Five dissertations on the Scripture account of the fall, andits consequences

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r>f^HS*??*!' ' )

FIVE

DISSERTATIONS

ON THE

SCRIPTURE ACCOUNT

or THE

FALL; AND ITS CONSEQUENCES,

B y

CHARLES CHAUNCY, D. D.

Minifter of the Firft Church in Boston, New England.

LONDON:

POINTED FOR C. DILLY, IN THE POULTRV,
MDCCLXXXV-

CONTENTS.

DISSERTATION I.

\Jn the one many Adaniy in his innocent fiat e.

Page I

DISSERTATION 11.

On the one many Adam^ in his lapsed ft ate ; with the
temptation that brought him into ity 64

DISSERTATION IIL

Of the pofterity of the one man, Adam^ as deriving
exiftence from him, ?tot in his innocent, but
hAVSEuftatey ' — 129

DISSERTATION IV^.

Of the difference between the one man, Adamy in his
innocent ft ate y and his pofterity defcendii^g from him'
in his lapfed ftatCy 233

A SUPPLEMENTAL DISSERTATION on

Romans, Chap. V. from the 12th to the 20th
Verfe, more efpecially thofe Words, '^ For
that all have finned-*' and " by one mans difobe-
dience, many were made /inner s,'* 250

DIS-

a^Sm,^

DISSERTATION I.

0?i the ont man^ Adam^ in his innoceiitjlate.

MOSES, in his book of Genefis, gives
us a plain, though concife, account of
the creation of the firft man: and it is from
this account, together with fome Scripture-paf-
fagcs which may fcem to allude to ir^ and not
from the principles of mere reafon, that we be-
come capable of conceiving juftly of the ftate in
which he was originally created.

The Mofaic account of man> and his original
ftate, I fhall place before the reader in its full
view once for all, that he may be able the more
readily to judge of the pertinency of what may
be offered as reprefenting its juft contents. Ic
is in thefe words :

Genesis, Ghap. I.
i6. " And God faid. Let us make man in our
image, after our likenefs : and let him have

B dominion

2 DISSERTATION I.

dominion over the fifh of the fea, and over the
fowl of the air> and over the cattle, and over
all the earth, and over every creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth/*

27. *' So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God created he him : male and
female created he them/'

28» " And God blelfed them, and God faid
unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and re-
plenifh the earth, and fabdue it, and have do-
minion over the fifh of the fea, and over the
fowl of the air, and over every living thing that
moveth upon the earth/'

29. *' And God faid. Behold, I have given
you every herb bearing feed, which is upon the
face of all the earth, and every tree in the which
is the fruit of a tree yielding feed : to you it Ihall
be for meat/*

Genesis, Chap. II.

7. *^ And the Lord formed man of the dufl of
the ground, and breathed into his noflrils the
breath of life : And man became a living foul/'

S, " And the Lord God planted a garden eall-
ward in Eden 5 and there put he the man whom
he had formed/^

9, '' And out of the ground made the Lord
God to grow every tree that is plcafant to the
fight, and good^ for food : the tree of life alfo in
the midH of the garden, and the tree of know-
ledge of good and cvil/'^

1 j» « And

DiSSEkTATtONl. 3

15. " And the Lord God took the maiii and
put him into the garden to drefs it, and to keep
it."

16. ** And the Lord God commanded the
man, faying. Of every tree of the garden thou
mayeft freely eat :"

17. *' But of the tfee of the knowledge of
good and evil, thou (hale not eat of itj for irt
the day thou eateft thereof thou fhalt furely
die."

18. *' And the Lord God faid, it is not good
that the man fhould be alone : I will make him
an help meet for him."

19. " And out of the ground the Lord God
formed every beaft of the field, and every fowl
of the air 5 and brought them unto Adam to fee
what he would call them j and whatfocver Adam
called every living creature^ that was the nam^
thereof."

20. " And Adam gave names to all cattle,
and to the fowl of the air, and to every bead of
the field : but for Adam there wai not found an
help meet for him."

2 1 . *< And the Lord God caufed a deep fleep
to fall upon Adam, and he flept : And he took
one of his ribs, and clofed up the flelh inftead
thereof."

22. " And the rib, which the Lord God had
taken from man, made he a woman, and brought
her unto the man."

B 2 23, « And

4 DISSERTATION L

2j. " And Adam faid, this is now bone of my
bone, and flefh of my flefh : fhe fliall be called
woman, becaufe (he was taken out of man/'

24. ** Therefore fhall a man leave his father
and his mother^ and fhall cleave unto his wife :
and they fhall be one fiefli."

25^ " And they were both naked, the man
and his wife, and were not afhamed,"

From thefe words of Mofes, the following
things eafily prefent riiemfelves to obfervation.

1. The ^* diftinguifhing language," in which
God is introduced, as fpeaking about the crea-
tion of man. Pie only faid, relative to the other
creatures, " let the waters and the earth bring
them forth after their kind :" But, when he was
about to make man, he is reprefented as fpeak-*
wg in a quite different flyk, *' Let us make
man." The other creatures, as truly as man,^
were made by God. His almighty word, and
not any virtue there was in " in the waters," or
in " the earth," called them into being. " The
waters," and " the earth," are mentioned to point
out the elements refpedively proper to thofe liv-
ing creatures j or to fignify, that thofe of them
who were to live in the waters> were formed by
the creating hand of God out of this element ;.
as thofe, who were to live on the earth, were
made out of that : or, could any other reafon.be
given of the command to ^^ the waters," and ta

« the

DISSERTATION!, 5

«< the earth," to bring forth thofe living creatures,
it cannot be fuppofed, that they were the pro-
ducers of them. God only was the " agent"
in their produflion, whatever ufe he might make
of thefe elements in bringing them into exilj:-
^nce.

The peculiar manner, therefore, in which God
is introduced as fpeaking concerning the creation
of man, cannot be defigned to lead us into the
thought, as though he was the maker of man, but
not of the other creatures -, for he was as truly the
Creator of them, as of him : but this diftinguilh-
ing form of fpeecl> was rather intended to poinr
out the « fuperipr excellency," of the wprkman-
fhip God was now about to form. He advifes,
takes counfel, as it were, with himfelf^ having
it in view to make a creature of the higheft dig-
nity and importance in this lower world, " Let
vs make man."

Some fuppofe there is, in thefe words, an ap-
plication from the " Father" to the '^ Son,"
and to the " Spirit :" as it is faid of the " Son,"
that ^' all things were made by him, and with-
out him was not any thing made that was made i"
and of the ^' Spirit," that " he moved upon the
face of the waters," in the beginning of the
creation. I will not affirm, there is no founda-
tion for this thought in this mode of didlion :
neither would I fay, thofe are miftaken who fup-
pofe it only a more aggrandifed manner of fpeak-

5 .'5

ins:

5»

6 DISSERTATION I.

ing, fuited to the greater excellency of the work
that was now in hand.

11. Another thing obvioufly contained in the
^ofaic account of man is, his " adlual pro-
dudlion.'* Concerning this it is faid, in general,
" God created man ,'' — '^ Male and female created
he them *." If, by the term '^^ created," we
underftand that '^ power,'* either as to its na-
ture, or manner of exertion, which gave man his
fsxiflence, we can have no idea of it, nor are ca-
pable of having any, in the prefent flare of hu-
man faculties. The meaning of it, therefore, as
to us, can be only this, that God now brought
man into being, not by the inftrumentality of
fecond caufes, operating according to eftablilhed
laws; but by an immediate a(ft of his own air
mighty pov^er.

The infpired Mofes, having fpoken in a ge-
neral way concerning thp *^ creation of man,'^

• Some have ventared to fuggcft, frpm the manner cf fpeaking
here ufed, that the body of man, upon his urft crcaiion, was
fo formed as to be both of the *' nale'* and '* fcrrf'e" kind ^
though afterwards an alteration was efFefted, dividing the {exes,
and alngning to each a fe^parate body. But this is a notion that
took rife from fancy only, not froni any thing Mofes has faid.
It is true, he affirm?, in this place, that " God created man
male and female ;'* giving only this general account of the mat-
ter. But wh.eo he refumes the fubjeil in the next chapter, he
particularly informs us of tlie '•* feparate creation,'* both of the
man and of the woman ; of the man, ** out cf the dull of
(hs ground ;'' of the woman, out of ** a rib of the man." So
that, from the beginning, they ex^iled with fcparate bodiest
properly diftinguilhing their fex.

^nd

DISSERTATION I. 7

find his being created *^ male and female/* after
fome interruption refumes the fubjed:, and in-
forms us more particularly of what man was
formed, feparately confidered as ** male" and
'« female."

Of man, that is, the firfl man, Adam, he fays,
'« God formed him of the duft of the ground,
and breached into his noftrils the breath of life;
and man became a living foul." It is, beyond
all difpute, evident from thefe words, that man,
the body of man, was made of pre-exifting mat-
ter, here called, " the duft of the ground." This,
by the wifdom and power of God, was formed
into an exquifitely curious compound of organ-
ifcd parts. But after this formation of " duft'*
into fo wonderful a machine, it was ftill dead
inadtive matter ; and fo it remained, till *^ God
breathed into it the breath of life." It was upon
this, that ^* man became a living foul."

It may be worthy of remark here, our Saviour
Jefus Chrift, in a difcourfe of his about whom
we (hould fear, particularly diftinguilhes between
the " fouF' and " body" of man. Agreeably,
the writer of the epiftle to the Hebrews fpeaks
of God in that ftyle, " the Father of our fpirits."
And Solomon, in his book, called Ecclefiaftes,
ufes that mode of exprelTion, " the fpirit of man
returneth to God who gave it." If now, by
" the breath of life," we underftand, as it feems
rcafonable we Ihould, the '^ foul," or '^ fpirit ;"
then, by «^ God's breathing it" into the body of
B 4 man.

8 DISSERTATION I.

man, it is natural to iinderftand his uniting it,
having firft given it exigence by his creating
power, to the " dufl" he had before organifed
into a fuitably adapted body for its reception, in
order to its afting, and being adled upon, by
it. But, in whatever fenfe we take God*s " breath-
thing into man the breath of life,*' it was this
exertion of his almighty power that gave him
«« lifej'* that is, conftituted him a being capable
of having communication wjth himfelf, and the
world he had made, in the way of perception and
enjoyment.

Of the formation of the *^ woman, '^ the firft
of the kind, the account is in thefe words : " And
the Lord God caufed a deep fleep to fall upon
Adam, and he flept : and he took one of his
ribs, and clofed the fie(h thereof. And the rib,
which the Lord God had taken from man, made
he a woman, and brought her unto the man." It '
appears from hence, that the woman, as truly as
the man, was made of previoufly exifting mat-»
ter, though not of the fame form. It pleafed God,
no doubt for wife ends *, to take a '* rib'^ out of

the

^ Moll commentators and pra£lical writers ufon this fubjeft,
appear to be of the opinion, and 1 am ready to think upon juft
grounds, that God might chufe to form the woman out of
** a lib" of the *' man," to make way for ihe cbiervation that
imnttediately follows upoo her being thus formed; viz, that fhe
was ** bone oP his "bone, and fledi of his fieih. Therefore (ball
a man leave his father and iiis mother, and cleave to his wife ;
Sifid they iliall be pneflefh:" Heiefrom recommending marriage

to

DISSERTATION I. 9

the man's body, and to work it into a like curi-
oufly organifed machine. It is not added, that
he then " breathed into it the breath of life j''
but this ought, in reafon, to be fuppofed : other-
wife it woyld have been an unperceptive ufelefs
figure.

It is here particularly fignified, that while
this " rib was taking out of the man,*' and the
« flefh clofing again," he was thrown into a
f^ deep flecp ;'* probably, that he might be in-
fenfible of any pain : though God might bring it on
him as he caufed a " deep fleep" (Dan. viii.
1^ — 26.) to fall on Daniel and Abraham, v;hen,
in a fignal manner, he revealed himfelf to them.
Perhaps, in this *^ deep fleep," God conveyed to
Adam as clear a perception of what was now
tranfadling, as if he had feen it with his eyes ; at
the fame time, giving him the proper inftruc-
tions relative hereto : infomuch that, upon
awaking out of this " found fleep," he was able

to all, as founded in nature ; being the re-union of man and
woman*, intimating alfo what tender afFedion ought to fubfid
jaetweeii man an^ wife ; as they are no longer '« twain, but on®
flefh." To this purpofe is that reafoning of the ApoHle Paul,
Eph. V, 28. 31. *' So ought men to love their wives as their
own bodies : he that loveth his wife, loveth himfelf. — For this
caufe (hall a man leave his father and his mother, and cleave
to his wife; and they two (haU be one flefh. " And as it was
but one woman that God made out of the man to be his wife,
he might herefrom defign to lead us into this further thought,
that, in this way, it was fit and proper, and in this way only,
that mankind flfiould be propagated. To be fure, this is what
our Saviour has colleiled herefrom, and plainly taught us j as
may be feen ac large, Mail. xix. 4 — 5, Mark x, 5—12.

to

10 DISSERTATION I.

to fay of the woman, now brought into being,
" This is bone of nny bone, and flefh of my
flelh : (he Ihall be called woman, becaufc fhe was
taken out of man.*' Ver. 23. And the words
that immediately follow, he might fpeak in confc-
quence of a '^ revelation" he now received from
God ; " therefore fhall a man leave his father and
his mother, and fnall cleave to his wife ; and they
Ihall be one flefh.'* In this way it will be eafy,
though extremely difficult in any other, to recon-
cile what feems evidently to be here fpoken by
Adam, with cur Saviour's declaration, which is
exprefs, that it was God that thus fpoke. His
words to this purpofe are thefe; " Have ye not
read, that He which made them at the begin-
ning, made them male and female, and said. For
this caufe fhall a man leave his father and mother,
and (hall cleave to his wife; and they twain (hall
be one flelh." Matt. xix. 4, 5. Though Adam
fpake thefe words, yet God might, with drift
propriety and truth, be faid to fpeak them alfo, if
Adam fpake them as communicated to him by
*' revelation'* from God. — But as thefe are matters
of comparatively fmaller importance, I go on
to fay :

III. It is further obfervable, that man, In his
original ftate, was made in the " image of God."
So the propofal runs, when God was in confult-
ation about making him : " Let us make m.an
in our image, after our iikenefs," And agreeable

hereto

DISSERTATION I. n

hereto is the account given of the matter, after
man was aftually made : " So God created man
in his own image, in the image of God created
he him.*'

Some are fo nice as to diftinguifh between
^^ image*' and " likcnefs ;" taking more into the
meaning of the latter than the former. But
there does not appear to me to be any juft reafon
for making this difference. '^ Image*' and
^* likenefs/' as here ufed, feem very evidently
to import one and the fame thing. The latter is
explanatory of the former. Being a word of
fimilar meaning, it might be added, and with
ftrid propriety, the more clearly and fully to
afcertain the fenfc intended to be communicated.
This ufe of fynonymous words is common in all
languages, particularly in the Hebrew 5 multiplied
inftances whereof might cafily be given, was
there any need of it. I fhall add here, wc may
the rather think, that thefe words were defigned to
convey the fame fenfe ; as in the following verfe,
where we have the account of man's creation,
the language is this : '^ So God created man in
his own image, in the image of God created he
him." If more had been contained in the word
^^ likenefs," than in the word " image," it can-
not reafonably be fuppofed that Mofes would
have faid ^^ So," that is, agreeably to the above
determination, '* God created man in his own
image," wholly leaving out the " likenefs" he
had before mentionedo

Put

il DISSERTATION L

But the great queftion here is, what are we to
tinderftand by this " image of God/* in which
man was created ?

Whether this is a queftion in itfelf difficult
to be anfwered or not, it has occafioned various
oppofite opinions, which have been maintained
with warmth, nof unmixed with bitternefs and
wrath.

Some make this " image of God" on man
to confift in his " outward form 5'* his being
made, not like the other creatures, but after a
model far exceeding theirs. To this purpofe
are the following words of a confiderable writer:
•^ It cannot, I think, be difputed, but thgt, in a
" moft: obvious fenfe of the words, man's being
*' created in the image of God, may refer to
^^ the make of his body ; and intimate, that he
*^ was formed, not after the fafhion of any other
*' of the living creatures, but was made in a
*^ pattern higher than they. A more excellent
*' form than theirs was given to him.— It h an
*' expreflion not unfrequent in the Hebrew fcrip-r
*^ tures, to fay of things, that they are " of God,"
^' if they are in quality eminent above others,
*^ which have no more than common perfedions.
^' In this manner of fpeaking, trees of a pro-
" digious growth are called, " trees of God,'*
^« or << the trees of the Lord.'* Such were the
^' Cedars of Lebanon," and for that reafon cali-
fs ed " the trees of the Lord," trees which '^ he
^« had planted,*' And thqs man might be faid

" to

DISSERTATION I. 13

tf to be made in " the image of God." His
" outward form" was of a different make, far
*^ more refpedlable, fuperior to the make of all
** the other creatures of the world 5 and accord-
*' ingly, to fpeak fuitably of it, the expreflion is
" ufed, which, in the language of Mofes's times,
*' was commonly faid of any thing that was fa
** fuperlatively excellent, as to have nothing like
** to, or to be compared with it. No ** image"
*' of any thing in the world was equal to, or
** like, that of man ; and therefore man was faid
" to be created in " the image of God."

Thefe are the words of Dr. Shuckford *, which
I cannot but wonder at, as he has juftly merited
the charadter of a learned and really good wri-
ter. The mode of diclion he has mentioned,
" trees of God," and " trees of the Lord," as
ufed to point out a peculiar excellency in the
things fpoken of, do not appear analogous to
this, in which it is faid, " in the image of God
created he man." Mod certainly the analogy
can be carried no further than this, that it was an
excellent creature, fingularly fo, that God now
made: not that he was this excellent creature,
pointing at his " external form," or figure. It
would indeed be highly abfurd to give the phrafe
this meaning ; there can be no " corporeal"
likenefs to that God, who is a pure Spirit. A

* Vide his Hiflory of the Creation and Fall of Man. p. 74,

75*

rcfem-

f 4 DISSERTATION I.

refemblance of him in this fenfe, is impofTible?
in the nature of the thing itfelf. Accordingly,
when " bodily** parts, figure, or motion arc:
afcribed to God in Scripture, as they fometimes
are, they are ever undcrftood, by all writers of
any value, as defcriptions accommodated to
human weaknefs, and interpreted fo as to confif^
with that " fpirituality" of the Divine Being,
which is efTential to him.

Others, by this " image of God," fuppofc
nothing more is meant than a *' likenefs" of man
to God in refpedt of '^ dominion." It accord-
ingly follows, fay they, immediately after the
confultation about making man in " the image
of God,'* and *' let him have dominion over
the fifli of the fea, and over the fowl of the air,
and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and
over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the
earth.*' Gen. i* 26. In like manner, man's
adlual creation in " God's image," and the grant
of " DOMINION," are connected with each other.
** God created man in his own image ; and God
faid unto him, have dominion." — The Apoftle
Paul's arguing is alfo referred to, in illufh-ation
of this fenfe of " God's image." He declares,
that " a man ought not to cover his head j"
I Cor. xi. 7. and for this reafon, *^ forafmuch
as he is the image of God." The propriety of
his inference is grounded on this, that man is
the image of God in point of *^ dominion," or
" authority."

5 But

DISSERTATION I. ij

But neither of thefc proofs carry convitflion
with them. Man, it is true, was no fooner made
than vcfted with " dominion" over the inferior
creatures i but then, this *^ dominion" was grant-
ed to him in confequence of his having been firlt
created in " God's image," and in this way fitted
for this honour. So the order of the words im-
port. We are obvioufly herefrom led to think,
that God firft imprefled '^ his image" on man,
and, upon thus dignifying his nature, made him
the grant of fovereignty and dominion over the
other creatures. It is acknowledged,^ man, in
having " dominion/' is " like God," and may
properly be faid, in this refpedl, to bear his
" image" in part. But, furely, this is not the
whole of that " likenefs to God,*' in which
man was created : nor is it reafonable to think,
that God would have given him' '^ dominion"
over the other creatures, making him, in a fenfe,
his vifible image and rcprefentative, if he had
not previoufly made him in '^ his image," in
fome higher and more noble fenfe. He could
not indeed, in a moral view, have refembled
God at all, had he not been made after " hig
image," fo as that he could have been qualified
for that government, which had been put into
his hands. — And, as to man's being confidcred
by the Apoftle Paul as *' the image of God,"
on account of his dominion, no more can be
juftly argued from it, than that he refembled him
in this refpcifls not that he did not in any other.

The

i6 DISSERTATION h

The Apoftle had occafion, at this time, to men-
tion his participation of " God's image'* in this
view of it only. His words therefore ought not
to be, as they reafonably cannot be, interpreted
as an intimation that man was created in ^' God's
image," in no other fenfe than that of his having
*^ dominion."

Others ftill make this *^ image of God" on
man to confift principally, if not wholly, in his
prefent, adual, perfect likenefs to him in « holi-
nefsj" meaning hereby, an aflcmblage of all
morally good qualities, which they fuppofe to be
adventitious only, not eflential to his nature:
infomuch that, had he been made without this
likenefs to God, he would notwithftanding have
cxifted a man, a creature of the firft or highefl:
rank in this lower creation. They accordingly
fpeak of this holinefs as a " fuper-induced"
quality, which, if loft, or taken away from man,
would not deftroy his proper nature as fuch ;
though it would his chara6ler in this fpecial view

of it.

It is readily acknowledged, '' holinefs" was
principally, though not wholly, that which con-
flituted the " image of God" in which man was
created. It is conceded alfo, if this holinefs
was a mere " fuper-indu6lion" upon rnan's na-
ture, which would have been complete as fuch
without it, it was no ways eflfential to his proper
charader as man. He might, though deftitute

of

DISSERTATION L 17

of it, have retained his rank annong the crea-
tures. But it nnuft be faid, at the fame tioiej
that the " image of God" on man, whatever it
may be placed in, whether holinefs, or any thing
elfe, mud be interpreted in a fenfe that will make
it, not merely a quality annexed to his na*
ture, but an efiential property j as, without this,
he could not have exifled that kind or fort of
creature it was intended he (liouid be, in dif-
tindion from the other creatures; or have tranf-
mitted this kind to any of the individuals that
Should proceed from him. Thefe things will be
fct in an eafy clear light in what we fhali have
occafion to lay hereafter, in its proper place.
To proceed, therefore.

There are yet others vv^ho fuppofe, and, as I
imagine, upon juft grounds, that ^' the image
of God" on man^ in his creation, confided ia
his being endowed v/ith intelleulual and moral
powers, rendering him capable of attaining to a
refem.blance of the Deity in knowledge, wifdom,
holinefs, and happinefs ; and of growing perpe-
tually in this refemblance to the higheft degrees
that may be thought attainable by a creature of
fuch an order in the fcale of being.

It is conceivable, God might have fo made
man in " his image," as that, the firfl moment
'he was brought into exigence, he iliould have
been as ** perfed" in a6Vual knowledge, holinefs,
and happinefs, as he ever could have been. And
fome feenn to think, this was the cafe in fa^ti

C at

i8 DISSERTATION I.

at lead that man, as he came out of the creating
hands of God, was " perfedl'* in all intelledlual
and moral qualities.

If, by his being " perfect" in thefe qualities, is
meant, his having communicated to him a con-
ftitution of nature that would, under God, have
enabled him gradually to have attained to per-
feflion in them, and in the higheft degree a
creature of his make was capable of: This, I
fay, if nothing more is meant, is, without all
doubt, the real truth of the matter. It is true,
likewife, his faculties, when created, were in a
flate of " perfefl redlitudej" that is, he had no
wrong bias in his nature, no irregular propen-
fity, no undue tendency to any immoral thought,
word, or aflion. He was not indeed made
*« impeccable;" yet his endowments were fuch,,
that he might have turned out an intelligent,
righteous, holy, and happy being, in the higheft
degree of perfeflion he was originally formed
with a capacity for.

But for any to fay, that man, upon his firft
exifting, was endowed with knowledge, holinefs,
or any other attainable qualities, fo as that it
might be proper to affirm that he was " perfed"
in them, in any other fenfe than that which has
been fpecified, would be to fpeak befide the truth.
And yet, how common has it been to fpeak thus !
Many, who have profelTedly wrote upon this
fubjed, have reprefented the firfl parents of the
human race as created, not fimply with the ca-
I pacities

DISSERTATION!. 19

facities for intellcdlual and moral attainments
even to the highefl perfeclion> but with the very
qualities themfelves ; infomuch that, upon their
firft commencing " living fouls/' they pofTeffcd,
not only more knowledge of God, themfelves,
and the world they were placed in, and a far
higher degree of adlual prefent holinefs than any
of their pofterity have ever done fince, after their
highefl attainments 5 but that they were '« per-
fe6t''. in thofe qualities, in a fenfe analogous to
that in which good men, upon the Gofpel-plan
of grace, (hall be <* perfedl'' in them in the
other world.

But, furely, fuch an account of " the imac^e
of God" on man is the tranfcript of fancy, and
not of what is contained in the facred hiftory of
his creation. It is indeed utterly irreconcilable
with a variety of fadls, Mofes has mentioned re-
lative to Adam and Eve in their original (late.

If, inftantly upon their creation, they had been
the fubjedls of ^' adlual underflanding" in the
*^ perfeiflion'' that is pretended, it may be afked.
How it came to pafs that Eve was fo ignoranc
of the faculties proper to the beafts, as to ima-
gine that a ferpent might be naturally able to
" fpeak?'* And yet (he muft have been thus
ignorant, or it will be difficult, if pofTible, to
account for her not being (Iruck with furprife,
when he converfed with her in human voice.
We, who are acquainted with the inability of
the inferior creatures to make ule of words,
C 2 ihould

ao DISSERTATION I.

fhould be in danger of being put befide ourfelveSi
if fpoke to by one of them in the manner Ihe
was. And why was our mother Eve unmoved
with fear, or a(loni(hment, upon fuch an occa-
fion ? Perhaps, no good account can be given of
the matter but this, that fhe had not as yec
attained to fo much underflanding relative to the
the inferior creatures, as to know it was unnatu-
ral for them to fpeak. This is an obvious folu-
tion of any pretended difficulty *.

* It may be faid, in anfwer to what has been ofFered above,
and in Aipport of the actual perfedl knowledge of the firft of
our race, that the inferior living creatures were ** all brought
by God to Adam to fee what he would call them ;" and that
«' he gave names to them all." Gen. ii. 19, 20. And what is
the inference herefrom ? Not that, furely, which has commonly
been made, viz. that Adam mull have been endowed wich
" perfefl" underftanding. For a fmall degree of knowledge
would have ferved for all he was now called to, or is faid to
have done. Indeec', if he had •' given names'* to the feveral
fpecies of creatures, perfectly adjufted to their diftinguifting
nature and properties, and had done it from his own know-
ledge relative to them, he muft have been endowed with it in a
confiderable degree. But it is nowhere faid in the Bible,
thou-^h it has been faid in other books, that he thus gave them
names according to their natures. And barely his ** giving;
them names" is what he might have dons, though he had as
yet made but fmall advances in his knowledge with reference to
them, or any thing elfe. Perhaps, the chief thing intended
by God in bringing the creatures to Adam to ** have names
given to them,'* was to teach him the ufe and meaning of
fvords. And it is probable, the moft of what he did in this
matter, was by inilrudion from God, and not from any innate
or acquired knowledge of his own.

It

DISSERTATION I. ai

It may be again aflced, does it argue any high
degree of undeftanding to know, that " the
fruit of a tree'* is not, in its nature, adapted to
" make one wife,'* and that it could not be
** defirable to eat" of it to this end ? And yet,
our iirfl: mother was deceived into the belief,
that *^ the fruit** fhe faw growing in Eden upon
a certain *^ tree,*' was proper food for her un-
derftanding, and " defirable*' to be eat of, that
fhe might thereby be " made wife,'* fo as to
*< like God.*' Surely, fhe had not as yet made
be any great proficiency in the knowledge
either of God or of nature ! Thefe are fenti-
ments not capable of being entertained by any
that have.

It may be further afked, was it pofiible the
<* ferpent,** or " the Devil,*' ufing him as his
inftrument, could have feduced ** Eve" in the
way he did it, if fiie had had implanted in her
that innate knowledge which has ofren been at-
tributed to her? Upon the fuppofition of hich
knowledge, her being told, that her " eating**
of the forbidden tree would ^* open her eyes,'*
and make her, " like God, knowing good and
evil,** raufl have appeared to her at once, v.'ich-
out time for any laboured n.-flet'^ion, abfolureiy
a ridiculous thing: nor can it be. imagined fhe
could have been led afidc by ih grols and glarijir';
an abfurdity. And yer, this Vv'a'^ the wav, in
which fhe was overcome, to take, and cat of the
^^ tree," concerning v^hich God had laid, '<'Thaii
C 7 fh^lc

2j DISSERTATION I-

fhalt not eat of it 5" if wc may give credit ta
her own account of the matter, or to that the
infpired Paul has given of it. Says the woman,
*< the ferpent beguiled me, and I did eat." Gen.
iii. 13. Says the Apoftle Paul, the " ferpent be-
guiled Eve through his fubtilty.'' 2 Cor. xii. 2.
It was not fo much any fuppofed agreeablenefs
of the forbidden fruit to her " bodily tafte,'* as
its imagined aptitude to " make her wife like
God," that gave occafion to her lapfe. And
could this have been the cafe, if (he had been
the fubjecl of knowledge in that advanced height
that is pretended ? May it not rather be juftly
colledled from hence, that fhe had attained, as
yet, to underfranding but in a fmall degree ?

In fine, it may be afked. Mud not the *' one
offence" of the firft parents of mankind appear
unaccountably ftrange, if they were made in a
flate of perfedlly advanced holinefs as well as
knowledge ? By the reprefentation Mofes has
given us of the *^ trial" they were put to, it was,
fo far as we are able to judge of it, a much lefs
difficult one than that of Abraham, when God
called him to " take his only fon Ifaac, and offer
him a burnt-offering to the Lord ;" or that of
Noah, the falvation of whofe perfon and f^imily,
when the reft of the world were deftroyctl by a
univerfal flood, was dependent on fuch a *' faith
in God," forewarning him of this judgment while
yet in diftant futurity, as moved him to begin,
and go on for an hundred years together, with

the

DISSERTATION I. aj

the wbrk of " preparing an ark" for fafety, ac-
cording to the Diviae appointment, and in op-
pofition to the contemptuous fnecrs, and mocking
ridicule, with which he was, doubtlefs, often
tempted by the unbelieving world in that day.
And how came it about, that ihofe " imper-
fectly" holy men (hould fo honourably pafs
through thofe difficult trials, while the firfl: of
our race, who are reprefented to have been holy
even to " perfedion," fhould fail under one that
was far more eafy ? It moil evidently appears
from hence, that man was not in an advanced
(late of holinefs when he fell. Upon this fup-
pofuion, it would be inconceivable, that he
fhould have eat of the forbidden tree, when he
might fo eafily have refrained herefrom, and fe-
cured himfelf from the threatened death.

The plain truth is, the firft man, Adam, as
he came out of his Maker's hands, was endowed
with nothing more than thofe capacities which
are proper to a being of that order in which he
was created. The ufe of thefe powers, con-
formably to the method fettled by the wifdom
of God, was the way, and the only way, in
which he could attain to that ^' perfection" in
refembling the Deity he was originally formed
and defigned for.

We, the pofterity of the firfl man, Adam,

certainly come into exiftence wirh nothing more

than *' naked capacities.'" And v;hatcvcr thefe

capacities now are, whether ftrong or weak, whe-

C 4 ther

24 DISSERTATION I.

ther in a flate of reflitude or moral diforderj
which may.be hereafter confideredj I fay, what-
ever thefe capacities are, it is by time, exercife,
obfervation, inftrudion, and, in fhort, 4 due ufe
of the advantages we are favoured with, that
we " gradually" rife to thofe attainments our
capacities were planted in our nature that we
might acquire. The fame feems to have been
the cafe with our fird father, only with this dif-
ference, we come into the world ** infants."
And it is fo ordered by our Maker, undoubtedly
for wife and good ends, that the faculties of our
minds, as well as the members of our bodies, are
naturally weak and feeble at firft; as alfo that
they can advance in a flow and gradual way only
to a flate of maturity. The powers of our fouls,
no more than the members of our bodies, come
to their proper height till they have for years been
gradually growing up to it. But Adam was
made with all his faculties in full ftrength, God
created him at once a man j that is, with the
powers of a man, not a child, in regard both of
his foul and body. But ftill it fliould be remem-
bered, time, exercife, experience, and obfervation,
were neceffary in order to the proper ufe of thefe
powers to the noble ends for which they were
given : nor could he indeed have made any ufe
of the powers of his mind, till it had been fur-
ni(h€d with the materials herefor; which could
be done in no way but by " immediate" com-
munication from God, or in that method con-
formably

DISSERTATION I. 2j

formably to which we his children become pof-
felTed of them.

In regard of us, our minds at firfl: are nor only
feeble, but void of all the objeds of knowledge i
and it is by the intervention of our bodily or^
gans, adapted hereto by the wifdom and power
of God, that imprefiions from the material world
are gradually made on our fenfes, fo as to occa-
fion fenfations in our minds as objeds to employ
their cxercife; and thcfe objeds, with the reflec-
tions of our minds on them, and their mianner of
operation herein, are the inlets to our know-
ledge, and the original fource of all our attain^
ments in it : though thefe will be greater or lefs,
in proportion to the means, helps, and advantages,
we are favoured v/ith in the providence of God,
and the good or bad ufe we make of them. In
this fame way, it is reafonable to think, ideas
were let gradually into the mind of the firfl man,
in confequence of which he was enabled gra-
dually to make advances in knowledge, wifdom,
holinefs, and all other defirable qualities.

Only it fhould be minded here, as man was,
upon his firll coming out of the creating hands of
God, in a ftate of total ignorance, and, upon this
account, incapable of the ufe of any thing, it is
reafcnable to fuppofe, that God was his inftrudor
and guide, in fome fenfe analogous to that in which
parents are guardians to their children * : and it

was

• It is in fad trne, that A(?am, focn after his creation, before
there bad been time for a multipliw"j c.xer:ion of his (acuities

cither

26 DI S S E R T A T I O N I.

was owing partly to " immediate inftrudion fronpt
God," and partly to the introdudion of ideas
into his mind by the medium of his fenfes, and
the exercife of his mind with reference to thefe
objecls, that he made all thofe acquirements ia
knowledge and goodnefs he was the fubjedt of:

either in thinking or doing, was taken under the immediate
guidance of his Maker. H s going into the garden of Eden
was the efFeft, not of the mere exercife of his reafon, but by
direftion fom God: His Creator *' put him there." And the
defion of his being placed there, namely, *' to drefs it, and to
keep it," was difcovcred to him not by ratiocination, but
Divine inftrudion. It was *' the voice of the Lord" alfo, and
not human invefligation, that informed him it was the will of
his Maker that he fhoulJ not eat of fuch a particular tree in
the garden, upon pain of death. It was, moreover, by imme-
diate revelation, and not the fole exercife of his own powers,
that he came to knov/ that the woman was formed of part of
his body ; and therefore that ** man ard wife fhonld not be
twain, but one flefh," and in this re-union propagate the human
fpecies. In fine, it was by immediate Divine inftrudlion, and
not the innate force of his own abilities, that he was at firfl:
taught the ufe of words, at leall in thofe inftances wherein his
Maker fp^ke to him. And if man had been obedient in the
fpecial article wherein he was tried, he would, in like manner^
without all doubt, and in virtue of this rule too which Gcd had
fetilid as the nieafure of his condud towards him, have received
from his Creator ilill other inllrudlions, as occafions might call
ior them, without which he might, through his prefent inex-
perience and want of improvement, have been led into hurtful
error?, both in his thoughts and sftions. All which evidently
fiiew5, that, being newly brought into exiftence, he was in a
kind of ** infantile flate," needing the guidance of his Maker^
under which it was intended that he fhould grow up, in a pro-
greffive way, to the adual perfe<i"uon he was defigned for.

thougli

DISSERTATION I. 27

though, as it was foon after his creation that he
finned againfl: God, he had probably made but
faiall attainnnents in compariibn with what he
might and would have done, had he continued
in his innocent ilate for any long feries of time.
And this, by the way, will, in a good nieafure,
account for the eafy trial he was called to ; as alfo
for the manner in which he was tempted, and
his being adually feduced upon being thus
tempted. The trial was adapted to one that had
made no greater attainments than it may be fup-
pofed he had done ; fo was the manner of tempt-
ation alfo 5 and it is far from being incredible,
that he fhould be overcome by it : whereas, it
men, from their own imagination, v/ill charac-
terife our firfl father at the time when he was
tried, tempted, and led into fin, as in a (late of
advanced perfection, they will make the Vv'hole
account of this matter really unintelligible.

From what has been above offered, it is eafy
to perceive, that the v/ay of arguing Dr. Taylor
has gone into to fliow, that ** the faculties of
*^ the firfi man, Adam, were not fupcrior in his
*^ innocent (late to what they were afterwards, or
" that they did not exceed the faculties his polierity
*' have been endowed with fince,'* is an infufficient
one, whether the fa6l itfelf be true or falfe, as not
carrying with it reafonable grounds of convic-
tion. He has been at the pains particularly to
compare the ads vyhich Adam performed in his
innocent (late, with thofe men are capable of

perform-

28 DISSERTATION I.

performing fince ; and fuppofes, " that any one,^
*^ who foberly weighs what he has offered, wiH
** judge, that there is really no ground in reve-
** lation for exalting his nature to a fuperiority
♦^ beyond that of his poflerity." But this va-
luable writer feems not to have fufficiently con-
fidered, that the ads of Adam, in his innocent
ftate, might be below what his pofterity, arrived
at maturity of judgment and underftanding, are
capable of 5 while yet he might have been en-
dowed with faculties vaflly fuperior to theirs.
There is no reafon to think that the mind of
Adam, immediately upon his creation, was filled
with all the ideas it was endowed with a capacity
to admits or that he was, at once, able to apply
them to all the ufes they were adapted to ferve,
whether in reafon or morality. Without all
doubt, ideas were to be gradually Jet into hJs
mind, in a way analogous to that which now
takes place ; that is to fay, by the intervention
of external nature, and his attending to the ope-
rations of his inner man. And if he had been
created with the capacity of an Angel, it would,
in this way, have required time, ufe, and expe-
rience, before he could have attained to an-y
confiderable degrees of adual knowledge.

Should it therefore be fuppofed, that nothing
is recorded to have been faid or done by our
firft progenitor in his innocent ftate, that exceeds
the meafure of underftanding that is common to
his pofterity fjnce the lapfc; nay, Ihould it be

albwed

DISSERTATION L ag

allowed that his aftual knowledge, even before
his fall, was much lefs than ours is fince, upon
our arrival at maturity of age j it will not follow
from hence, that his faculties were not larger and
better than ours. For it is to be remembered.
It was not a great while before he fell by tranf-
greilion. The precife time cannot, as I imagine,
be punctually afcertainedj but in general it is
evident, from the whole feries of the Mofaic
hiftory, that it was before he could, conformably
to the eftablifiied laws of nature, have made any
confiderable acquirements either intelledual or
moral. The powers of his nature might there-*
fore have been vaftly fuperior to ours, though
this did not appear by the *' adual exercife of
themi** infomuch that, had he continued in in-
nocency, he might have exceeded the meafure of
our prefent attainments, in proportion to the fupe-
riority of " Paradife'' beyond the " earth," as it
now lies under the *^ curfe of God." It is quite
cafy to conceive that Adam, before the fall,
might be endowed with faculties far more quick
and lively, far more flrong and penetrating, than
ours are fince the lapfe -, and yer, that his ** adual
knowledge" might be lefs, as few ideas had been
let into his mind, and his opportunity to acquire
the habit of making the proper ufc of them had
been but of fbort continuance. For this reaibn,
the ads performed by him, in his innocent ftate,
might not be beyond the capacity of thofe of his
poftericy, who have attained to a moderate fhare

of

30 DISSERTATION 1.

of underftahding; while, at the fame time, hc
might have pofTcfled faculties that would have
enabled him, by ufe and exercife, in due time
to have arrived to vaftly more exalted degrees,
both of underftanding and holinefs, than any of
his pofterity arc capable of in their prefent ftate.

Bur, whatever may be the truth refpeding the
firft man^s faculties in his innocent fbate, whether
they were fuperior to the faculties of his pofterity
fince the lapfe, and in confequence of it, or not
(which may be confidered afterwards), it is cer-
tainly more reafonable, as we have feen it to be
more agreeable to the Mofaic hiftory, to fuppofe
that he was made, at firft, rather with the capa*
cities only for the attainment of intelleduai and
moral perfection, than with this perfedion, as
an *^ abfolute gift'* beftowed on him at once.

The fuppofition, that man was made at firft with
capacities only, is analogous to what has taken
place, in faft, with refped to every individual
of the human fpecies fince the creation of Adam.
They have all come into exiftence ^vith faculties
only, not faculties endowed as they may be in
time by due ufe and exercife -, yea, this analogy
holds in regard of the '' gift of grace" that makes
men '' new creatures." They are firft *' new-
born babes," and gradually grow up to '' the fuW^
nefs of the ftatore of perfect men in Chrift Jefus.**
And the like analogy extends to all the creatures
'of God in this lower world that have life, though
it is only a vegetative one. It would therefore be

ftrange.

DISSERTATION I. 3I

jftrange, if the firll man had been a contradi£lion,
in his make, to that order which was eftablifhed
in the beginning of the world, and has been
uniformly continued to this day.
' It will, perhaps, be faid here, might it not
have been better in God to have formed man at
once in the fame degree of perfeclion, it would
have taken him a long time to have acquired in
the ufe of implanted faculties only ? Would it
not have argued much greater goodnefs, if this
perfe6lion had been an *' abfolute gift,** and not
be trufled with man, fo as, in any meafure, to
have been dependent on his care or fidelity in the
ufe of the powers he was endowed with ? In
fhort, what need was there of this round-about-
way to perfeclion, when it might have been com-
municated at once without fo much ado ?

To all v;hich the anfwer is, thefc queflions can,
in reafon, be looked upon as nothing more than
the refult of mere random conjedurej notwith-
ftanding which, man's being made fo as that he
might, in a gradual progrelTive way, rife to the
perfedlion he was formed capable of attaining to,
may be in itfelf the wifeft and beH: way in which
this perfcdlion could have been communicated.

Had man been made in as high a degree of
intelle<ftual and moral glory at once, as he was
made capable of attaining gradually to in time,
this abfolute gift of God could not have been the
fource of that pleafure, at lead that fort of plea-
fure, which might have reiultcd from it, had it

been.

3a DISSERTATION h

been, in a reaibnable meafure, an acquifition of
his own. Pleafure is naturally connected, by a
Divine eRablifhrnent, with the idea of any valu-
able quality, as the efrcdt of a due ufe of the
faculties we are endowed with. We need only
attend to what we perceive within ourfelves to be
convinced of this. And it is indeed one of the
highell and noblefl: pleafures we are capable of
enjoying. 6u: it is certain man could have had
no perception of this pleafure, there would have
been no foundation for it in his nature, if he had
been made at once that perfed creature he might
have been by a wife and good improvement of
his implanted powers. If perfeflion, in all de.
firable mental qualities, had been the grant of
God to man independently of himfelf, he would
have had no reafon for ^' felf-approbation" on
this account; nor could he have enjoyed that
noble pleafure, which is the natural refult there-
from. For this can arife only from a confcious
reflexion on his ov/n aelivity in the procurement
of them.

Befides, this method of man's attaining to the
perfection he was made for, affords not only the
moft natural occafion for the various exercife of
his implanted powers, but conftantly prefents the
mod reafonable call for this exercife. There is,
upon this plan, not only full room, but the
highefl reafon for a uniform, fteady, and vigorous
exertion of every faculty of his nature.

In

DISSERTATION 1. J3

In this way alfo there is a natural and clofe
connedtion between intelledual and moral im-
provements in every degree, and the proper
reward of them. For thefe improvements, in
all their degrees, in the prefent view of them,
are at once the relblt of the due ufe of implanted
powers, and the reward of this ufe of them^
And, in truth, if man could have been rewarded
for the right ufe of his faculties, had he been
made in that (late of a6lual perfection it is here
fuppofed he might gradually have attained to,
it is not conceivable, if pofTible, that it could
have been by any" increafe" of his happinefs.
A capacity of rifing in glory, by degrees naturally
conneded v/ith, and preparatory to, each other,
feems to be not only the moft fuitable excitement
to a good ufe of implanted faculties, but the
moft fit and congruous, if not the only bafis,
upon which this ufe of them can be rewarded ;
efpecially, if we take into our idea of this re-
ward an ^* increafe'* of real happinefs. It is in
confequence of this progreflive capacity, that we
fuppofe, and, as I think, upon juft and folid
grounds, that all intelligent moral beings, in all
worlds, are continually going on, while they
fuitably employ and improve their original facul-
ties, from one degree of attainment to another '>
and, hereupon, from one- degree of happinefs to
another, without end.

IV. The next thing obfervable is, an account of
the " conftitution,'' rule or order, conformably to

D which

34 DISSERTATION L

which the reft of mankind were to be brought
into exiftence. God " blefled" the man and the
woman whom he had created, and faid, " Be
fruitful, and multiply, and replenifh the earth.''
The words very evidently contain the eftablifh-
ment of a law of nature, in agreement with
which God would ad in the production of all the
after-individuals of the human fpecies. They
were not to be made, as Adam was, by an un-
related exertion of Divine power; but in a me-
diate way, in confequence of the intervention of
thofe " fecond caufes" that were now conllituted
and fpecified. Adam and Eve, by the word of
blefling which God here fpake, were made ca-
pable of becoming " many" by a multiplication
of the fpecies, or by tranfmitting exiftence to
other individuals in their own likenefs. Not that
they could do this in virtue of any flvill, will,
or power of their own, fimply confidcred ; but
they were the " fecondary caufes," in concur-
rence with v/hich, God would exert his efficiency
16 the production of other creatures of the fame
kind.

As the words, conftituting Adam and Eve in-
flruments, under God, in the multiplication of
the human race, were direded to them in their
own perfons, it may feem as tho' it was, by their
inftrumentality only, that human exiftence could
be communicated. But it is the truth of fad,
that thofe who proceeded from them were, in the
fame way, inftrumental in conveying exifteace

to

DISSERTATION I. 35

to others : and fo it has been ever fince. Thefe
words of blefling, therefore, were fpoken not only
to Adam and Eve, but virtually, and in reality
of conftrudtion, to their children, and children's
children, and fo on throughout all generations.
They contain, in fhort, the eftablifhed law, or
method, confornnably to which the individuals
of the human kind fliould be brought into being,,
even to the end of time.

It may be worthy of fpecial notice here, the
creation of the firft man and woman in ^^ the
image of God," that is, their being made intelli-
gent moral beings, capable, in confequence of a
right ufe of their implanted powers, of refem-
bling the Deity in knowledge, holinefs and hap-
pinefs, was the grand characteristic of their
rank or order. This pointed out the '- diftinc-
tion" between them and the other creatures God
had made. They were denominated " man'*
and " woman" on this account. It marked out
their proper *' difcriminating" kind of exigence.
Accordingly, the word of blefTing, upon which
they were enabled to '^ multiply," muft be inter-
preted to mean a multiplication of beings of the
^' fame kind" or ^^ nature" with themfelves ; that
is, they were now conftituted the mediate inftru-
mental conveyers of exiftence to creatures that
fhould be, as they themfelves were, intelliger^t
moral agents, having in their nature a ** capacity"
of becoming *^ vifible images of God :*' other-
wife, the creatures to whom they conveyed ex-
D 2 iflence.

36 DISSERTATION I.

iftence, could not have been of the " fame rank"
or order with themfelves.

It is obfcrvable, God " faid" to the inferior
creatures of every fort, *' Be fruitful and mul-
tiply;" hereby eftablifliing a '' general law,"
agreeably to which, creatures of the fame clafs
with thofe that were at firft created, might come
into being. No provifion was made for their
having exigence in any other way ; and, in this
way, their exiftence would be of the fame kind
with theirs from whom they Ihould proceed.
The diftinflion of kinds, that took place at firfl,
has, in this way, and in this way only, been ail
along upheld, and continues to this day. The
firll man and woman, in common with the other
creatures of every fort> were, in like manner,
conflituted by God the infirumental tranfmitters
of being ; but it was their own in kind. Ic
could be that fort of nature only, they had them-
felves received from God, as the fpecification of
their rank or order among the creatures ; that is
to fay, the individuals that fnould proceed from
them mud be endov/ed, as they were, whh intel-
lectual and moral faculties, and fuch too as would
infer a '* capacity" in their nature of attaining
to a refembiance of the Divine Being, fo as to
be " imager" of him.

It will, perhaps, be faid here, our firft father
finned before there had been any '^ multiplica-
tion" of the fpecies j and having, by fin, loft

the

D I S S E R t A T 1 O N I. 37

the image of God, he could not tranfmit it to
others, not being himfelf the fubjeft of it.

The anfwer is, if by " God's image'' on the
firfl man is meant, as the objedion feems to fup-
pofe, not fimply the implantation of faculties in
his nature fitting him to acquire, in a gradual
way, an acflual perfed: likenefs to the Deity m
knowledge, righteoufnefs, and other defirable
qualities; but the fuper-indu6lion of thefe quali-
ties themfclves, fo as that he pofTelTed them ' in
the fame manner he would have done, if he had
acquired them : I fay, if this is what is meant
by " the image of God" on Adam, it is indif-
putably true, that it is not communicated to his
pofterity, in the way of natural defcent: nor was
it ever intended that it fhould. In this view of
this " image,'* it is an adventitious quality, not
an efTential property. But '' the image of God,"
in this fenfe, is not tKat which Mofes fpeaks of.
He confiders it as the very thing thai: confti-
tutes the " dillindion" between man and the
other living creatures*. It was this essentially

that

♦^ I have faid, and, I think, upon good grounds, that the
GRAND DISCRIMINATION of man ffom the other creatures,
in all their kinds, lies in this, that he was macje with powers
fo far exalted above theirs, as that he is, in his nature, capable
of refembiing the Deity, more efpeciaJly in his moral glory :
whereas iheir natures are void of this capacity. The esset^-
TiAL difference does not confift merely, or only, in his being
a •* thinking'* animal, or a thinking one fo as to '* reafon"
«md " argue." For the other animal?^ at leaft fome of them,
^ 3 give

3$ DISSERTATION I.

that put the difference between hinn and thern :
nor could the firft man, either before or after his

fall,

give fuch evident proofs of a capacity to think, yea, and to
reafon too, that it cannot he denied upon any other foundation
than this, that, ^s they do not exift in human fhape, they muft
of courfe be confidered as deftitute of thought ; to be fure, of
the power of ranging and conneding their thoughts fo, as in
any meafure to reafon from them. But though they fhould
be fuppofed to poffefs this power, it muft, at the fame time,
be affirmed, that they do it in fo low a degree, even in regard
of the higheft fpecies of them, that they are naturally incapable
of dillinguifhing between moral good and evil, or of attaining a
'* likenefs to God'' in any of his ** moral'' attributes, wherein
principally con fifts that *' likenefs to him" man was made with
a capacity of rifing to, and in a noble degree of perfedion.
It fhould therefore Teem reafonabJe to place the essential dif-
tindilon between him and them in ** this capacity," which they
are totally deftitute of; efpecially as Mofes, when he would
diftinguifh man from the other creatures in all their various kinds,
makes no mention of any thing but this, that " God created
him in his own iinage," while he did not do the like by them.
It is cbfervable, he nowhere intimates that God made the
other creatures abfolutely without the ** power of thought;"
though he does, that he made them without this power, fo as
in the exercife of it to attain to a *' likenefs to God,'* and
therefore that the grand mark of diftindion between them
lay in this.

It is, perhaps, the *' power of thinking that essentially
conftitutes the difference between the creatures that have *• ani-
mal" and ** vegetative'' life. This pov*fer may begin in fo low
a degtee, that the ** higheft" of the latter, though totally
incapable of thought, may yet approach fo near to the ** lowed"
of the former, that the difference between them, though real
in nature, may not by us be difcernible: And it may go on
gradually rifing in thefe animals, through an admirable variety
of fpecies, till the <* higheft," in regard at leaft of fome of the

indi*

DISSERTATION I. 39

fall, have begot children that would have beca
of the faine rank or order with himfelf, in dif-
tindion from the other creatures, if he had not
begot thcoi in the " image of God," as this
was the original grand mark of difcriminating
their kind. And this he was capable of doing
after his iapfe, as truly as before it, if by " the
image of God, as has been explained, is under-

individuals, may fo nearly refemble the ** lowed" of the human
kind, that the difference, in point of mere reafon, may fcarce
be perceived; though ftill they eseentiawly differ in this,
that the ** lovveft'* among men ^refo pcffeft of the power of
reafon, as to be capable fubjei^s of 9 ^* moral Hkencfs to thg
Deity j" which the •' higheil^' among t]ie brutes are not. la
like manner, the proper ground of diftinflion between man, and
the next order of beings in the line of afcent (fay the angels)
may lie in this; that the capacity of men, as *' moral agents,'*
;s limited wiihin fuch a certain fphere; whi'e that of Angels,
though limited too, is, in fuch a fpecial degree, extended be-
yond theirs; though in fuch a manner that the '* highefl'*
among men may come fo near to the ** lowed'* among the
angels, that there may be no other difference than that which
13 ejjential to the diilinflion of their order. And, in this wa\^,
the wifdom of God may have conirived, that the •* power of
thought" fhould rife from the ** lowed" degree, through a
vad variety of inferior fpecies of beings, to a more noble rank,
fo endowed with this power as to be capable of attaining to a
'■* moral likenefs to the Deity," but dill in the " lowed" degree.
We men may be fuppofed to be this *' lowed'* order of intelli-
gent moral beings. And from qs, in the afcending line, orders
of beings may dill go on ridng in iheir fuperiority beyond all
imagination. It ia, perhaps, this rifmg of the creatures, and
by the mod nicely adjuded fubordination, that conditqtes that
" fiiDuefi" in th? univerfe, which leaves na room for eao or

D 4 flood,

40 DISSERTATION I.

flood; not a prefcnt adual perfedl " likenefs to
the Deity" in intelleftual and moral qualities, but
a ^^ capacity'* planted in his nature, making this
attainable. In this fenfe, it is the real truth of
faCl, that the pofterity of Adam come into ex-
igence with " the image of God j" that is, they
are born creatures endowed with intelledlual and
moral powers, in confequence of which they are,
in their nature, creatures capable of being formed
to an *' adlual refemblance of God," both in his
intelledual and moral glory; which the other
living creatures are not. It is upon this '^ ca-
pacity of nature," which the human kind, in
diftindlion from all the other kinds in this lower
world, come into exiftence with, that the gospel
SCHEME to effed in them an ^^ aiSlual likenefs to
God" is ESSENTIALLY grounded. It implants no
*« new faculty" in them. Whatever it does, ic
does upon faculties that have already been commu-
nicated to them, according to the eftablifhed laws
of nature. And thefe faculties, let it be remem-
bered here, were thus communicated '^ nakedly
as fuch," without their acquired improvements.
Parents do not tranfmit to their children their
*' attained qualities," either intellecflual or mo-
ral *, but like efiential capacities only, in con-
fequence
* It may be worthy of fpecial notice here, though humaa
faculties only, not their attained qualities, are tranfmitted from
pnrcnts to children; yet ihofe faculties, in virtue of the clofe
union or connection, or whatever elfe any may pleafe to call ir,
there is between the foul and body, may be tranfmitted with
advantage or difadvantage to the purpofcs of intelledlual and

mora!

DISSERTATION I. 41

fequence of which their children exifl: beings
of the fame kind with themfelves. This is the
fettled courfe of nature ; and found to be fo by-
daily experience. Adam, therefore, could have
communicated only his kind or rank in the cre-
ation. And as he was in kind, by nature, a
being capable of attaining to an adual " refem-
blance of God'* in knowledge, wifdom, and good-
nefs, in which capacity lay essentially the dif-
ference between him and the other creatures, his
pofterity, as proceeding from him in the way of
generation, mud, in fome proper fenfe, polTefs,
as he did, this original capacity, or they could

moral attainments. It is an indifputable fa6l, whether we can
conceive of the modus of it, or not, that *' bodily diforders,
efpecially bodily temperature," may have a ftrange influence
»pon our mental faculties ; infomuch that we fhall be apt to
think, judge, and a6l, very much as we are prompted hereto
by oar ** conllitu:ional turns.'* And thefe '* bodily com-
plexions" may be contraded by parents, and propagated from
them to children; and when they are bad, as they too com-
monly are, it is an unhappy difadvantage to children, as their
tendencies are with difficulty reftrained, and kept within due
government : Though they ought to be fo ; and in this good
government of them confifts a great part of our duty in this
prefent ftate of trial; in which, if we carelefsly fuffer them to
operate in an unbounded mannner, we (hall be juftly charge-
able with all the mifchief that arifes from our folly, in not afting
up to our proper charadler as beings of fuch an order in the
creation. But notwithftanding the difadvantage we may be
under on account of ** conltitutional turns" tranfmitted to us
from our parents, they convey exiftence to us with faculties, in
Confequence of which we are capable of attaining to a ** like-
dqCs to G6d," in his " moral'* glory; otherwife we Ihould not
be of the humaii kind^

not

42 DISSERTATION I.

not be of the fame rank or order among the
creatures that he was. It is accordingly aOlgned
as the reafon, why murder fhould be punifhed
with death throughout all generations, ** that in
the image of God he made man," not the tirft
man only, but mankind in all ages 5 and in this
view of the reafon given for this punifhment, it
all along has been, now is, and always will be, a
jufl and fclid one-, becaufe it all along has been,
now is, and always will be true, that men are
made " in the image of God," meaning hereby,
not an adual prefent ** likenefs to him," but a
*^ capacity" in their nature for this likenefs :
otherwife it would not be poffible they fhould ever
attain to it j which yet, fome of lapfed Adam's
pofterity certainly have ; and that others have
not done fo too is owing, not to the want of a
*' capacity" in their nature herefor, but to
other caufes, which it would be needlefs, as well
as tedious, to mention here.

V. The laft thing obfervable, though not the
lead important, is " the law of trial" man was
placed under in his innocent flate, or that " rule
of government," conformably to which God would
deal with him in regard of the great affair of his.
" living," or *' dying."

Only, before the facred hiftorian comes to
record this, he previoufly inferts the following
words : Gen.i. 8, 9. *' And the Lord God planted
a garden eaflward in Eden 5 and there he put
the man whom he had formed, And out of the

ground

DISSERTATION I. 43

ground made the Lord God to grow every tree
that is pleafanc to the fight, and good for food:
the tree of life alfo in the naidfl of the garden,
and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.'*
And having, in feveral verfes, defcribed the
fituation of Eden, he adds, ver. 15. « And the
Lord God took the man, and put him into the
garden of Eden to drefs it, and to keep it."

The fituation of Eden, in which God was pleafed
to make this garden for the ufe and benefit of the
firft man and woman, notwithftanding what Mofes
has faid in order to defcribe it, cannot, perhaps,
at this day be precifely afcertained -, the earth,
fince that time, having undergone fo many and
fuch great changes. But wherever it was, it was
probably the mod agreeable part of this lower
world : though the fpot pitched upon for the
garden might be ftill more pleafant and delight-
ful; and the rather, as God had caufed every
kind of growth to fpring up there that was fuitcd
either for nutriment to the body, or to pleafe
the tafte, or gratify the fight.

But two " trees," in fpecial, are mentioned by
their names, which may therefore call for par-
ticular notice, *' the tree of life in the midft of
the garden," and *^ the tree of knowledge of
good and evil."

The " tree of life" is univerfally fuppofed, by
thofe who pay a facred regard to the Mofaic
hiftory, to have had this name applied to it,
becaufe it was that by which (nan might have

been

44 DISSERTATION L

been for ever preferved in life without being
hurt by death. But " how" this immortality
would have been efFeded by it, is matter of dif-
pute.

Some are of opinion, that the *^ fruit" of this
tree was adapted, by the wifdom and power of
God, not only to afford proper food for the firft
pair, but to preferve their bodies, naturally cor-
ruptible, in the fame equal temper and ftate in
which they were created, without decay, even to
immortality. They juftify this opinion from
fuch confiderations as thefer From the " nartne
itfelf" given to the tree; which, they imagine,
is obvioufly expreffive of its proper nature, and
intended to point it out as a tree that had " virtue
in it" to perpetuate life for ever. — From what
God fays. Gen. iii. 22, 23. with reference to
man's eating of it after his Japfe ; «f And nov/ left
he put forth Iiis hand, and take alfo of the tre?
of life, and eat, and live for ever; therefore the
Lord God fen t him forth from the garden of
Eden :" and his thereupon barring the pafTage to
this tree, that he might not approach to cat of
it *, " So he drove out the man ; and he placed
at the eaft of the garden of Eden Cherubims,
and a flaming fword which turned every way, to
keep the way of the tree of life," ver. 24. —
From tbe allufions to this tree in the facred
books, particularly in the book of Revelation,
Rev. ii. 7. where it is faid, <* To him that over-
Cometh will I give to cat of the tree of life,

which

DISSERTATION I. 45

which is in the midft of the paradife of God."
In finc> from its better agreement with the other
parts of Mofes's hiftory, which contains a narra-
tive of real fads, and not figurative reprefent^
ations.

But the opinion of others, who rather appre-
hend this tree took its name from its beino: an
appointed (landing fign, or vifible afTurance to
man, that he fhould live on without dying, if he
continued innocent, appears to me to be better
grounded, and lefs liable to exception.

It might, perhaps, be arrogant to affirm, that
this tree could not have been made fo as to be
" naturally" capable of rendering man immor-
tal 5 but it would be no trefpafs upon modefty to
fay, it was highly improbable this fhould have
been the cafe : efpecially, as there is no real need
to fuppofe it was from any thing Mofes has faid
upon the matter.

We are obvioufly led by him into fuch a train
of thought as this : Had man continued inno-
cent, he would have been immortal. The
'* threatened death," in cafe of difobedience, an
account of which we have Gen. i. 23. would
have no meaning, to be fure none of any force,
unleft conftrued fo as to involve in it this fenfe,
that our firft father fhould not die, fo long as he
kept within the reftraint God was plcafed to lay
upon him ; and if he Ihould not die, he mud then
be immortal. But how ihould one of a corrupt-
ible mortal frame be preferved in life v/ithoiit
6 end?

46 DISSERTATION L

end? The *^ tree of life'* was planted in the
midft of the garden of Eden on purpofe to effect
this: but how? Either by its own " natural
virtue," or by " God's interpofuion," of which it
was the (landing vifible fign or pledge to the fir ft
man. It would be incongruous, to an high de-
gree, to ground the reafon of this name on any
fuppofed " natural** connedion between things
fo remote from each other, as the *« fruit of a
tree," and " living eternally:" whereas, it per-
fedly accords with onc*s fentiments of what is
fit and reafonable to fuppofe, that this tree might
be called '^ the tree of life/' as being a vifible
fign, pledge, or affurance, given to man by the
<« only immortal" being who has *' life in him-
felf," that he alfo, if obedient, fhould " live for
ever." There is nothing incredible in it, that the
incorruptible God fliould, by his almighty word,
bring it into efie6l, that the firft man^s *' cor-
ruptible fhould put on incorruption, and his
mortal put on immortality :" nor would it be at
all flrange, fhould he give a fign or pledge of
v;hat he thus intended to do : though it would
be greatly fo, fliould it be faid, that the " fruit
of a tree," abfolutely *' corruptible in its own
nature," fhould yet have a '' natural virtue" in
it, to make that incorruptible, which before, like
itfelf, was naturally corruptible alfo.

And this reafon of the name perfectly agrees
with the ftrid '' letter" of Mofes*s hiftory. For,
Jet it be minded, the '' literal fad** related by

him

PISSERTATION I. 47

him is only this; there was in paradife a tree
called the tree of life. He does not go on, and
give the reafon of this name. This he leaves to
his readers. It makes, therefore, no alteration ia
the fad related, whether the reafon of it be, the
" natural virtue" of the tree to immortalize, or
its being an appointed fign or token that God
would do it. The latter, as truly as the former,
agrees with the truth literally related.

Nor will it at all efFedt the propriety, beauty,
or force of the fcripture ailufions to this tree
fhould the reafon of its name be taken from its
being a '' pledge" of immortality, and not its
" natural virtue" to make immortal.

And the fame may be faid of man's being
driven out of the garden after his lapfe, and not
fuffered to come near the *^ tree of life." It was
as proper he Ihould be expelled, and barred an
approach to this tree, upon fuppofition of its
being an appointed fign of immortality, as if it
could, in its own virtue, in any confident fenfe,
have communicated it. Surely, it could not be
the defign of this condud in God to guard
againft man's defeating his pleafiire, by making
it impofTible, in confequence of his eating of
this tree, that he fhould die, when God had de-
clared that he (hould die. It would be ridicu-
loufly abfurd to fuppofe, that the tree of life
could have difannulled " the threatening of
God," had man, afrer bis offence, actually eac
of it. But as by fin he had forfeited that im-

mortality

4S DISSERTATION L

mortality which was the free grant of God upon
his continuing obedient, it was highly lit, in the
reafon of the thing, that he fhould not now be
permitted to *^ eat of the tree of life,'' whether
it was thus called from its own virtue to immor-
talize, or as an appointed fign or pledge that God
would do it : though the latter, as I imagine,
appears to be the mod. natural and congruous
reafon to ground this name upon.

The other tree, mentioned by its name, is
*^ the tree of knowledge of good and evil 5" fo
called, doubtlefs, as it v^as *« this tree," in dif-
tiniflion from all the reft in the garden, which
could have given the firft man and woman an
*^ experimental knowledge" of what was good,
and what was evil.

Some interpreters think, that this tree '^ na-
turally" produced fruit that was noxious and
deadly, fuch as, upon eating of it, would infedu
the blood, tranfmitting a poifon into it that
would certainly, however flowly, bring on death.
But it mull be a ftrangeTort of poifon, ftrange
In its nature, and as ftrangely flow in its ope-
ration, that would permit a man, after he had
taken of it, to live on nine hundred and thirty
years, which the Scripture fays. Gen. v. 3. Adam
did. — Befides, it does not feem likely, that any
herb, or the fruit of any tree God had made,
iliould, in its proper fenfe, be hurtful and deadly,
till after the introdu6lion of fin, and '' the curfe
gf the ground" thereupon. To be fure, Mofes

lays

DISSERTATION I. 4^

fays nothing from whence it may be colleifledi
that the fruit of this tree was of the baneful kind
that is pretended. He rather gives us to under-
Hand, that man was " made of the dufb," to
which " naturally" he v/ould again return^ unlefs
God ihould pleafe to prevent it. This he would
have done, had man been obedient; and he gave
him *^ the tree of life" as a {landing pledge or
afTurance of it. But man, having finned, for-
feited all right to this favour of God, and of
courie became liable to die. So that there was
no need of this *^ deadly fruit" to poifon his
body. It was made of corruptible materials, and
would, according to the lavvs of nature^ fall to
pieces fooner or later,

God's " putting Adam into the garden" is now
mentioned a fecond rime; but with this addition,
that he was put there ^' to drefs it, and to keep it.'*
So that he would have had " work to do," had
he abode in innocency; though his work would
have been nothing more than a recreating exer-
cife. It is fin, and the " curfe" thereupon, that
has changed what> at firft, was only a pleafant
amufement, into labour fo heightened as to de-
ferve the name of " toil" mixed with " for-
row." — But to proceed :

The facred penman, having recorded the above
fafts, now comes to give an account of the
'* rule," or " law of trial,'* man was placed
under in his innocent fl:ate. This is contained
in thofe words. Gen. ii. 16, 17, " And the Lord

E God

50 DISSERTATION!.

God commanded the man, faying, Of every tredr
of the garden thou mayeft freely eat 5 but of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou
ihair not eat of it 3 for in the day that thou eateft
thereof thou il:ialt furely die."

One would think, the " law of trial" here
made known to Adam was fo plainly exprefled,
at lead as to its general nature, that there could
be no reafanable room for miflake. And yet, fo
it has happened, that multitudes have been led to
judge and fpeak upon the matter, as though they
did not at all underfrand what Mofes has handed
to us, in the mod eafy and fignificative language.

It is indeed the common opinion, that man.
In his original flate, was under a " covenant of
works," requiring " perfe(fl obedience" to thd
whole moral or natural law of God, as the *^ con-
dition of life i" infomuch, that he would have been
fubjeded to death, in cafe of a failure, in any in-
flance, or the leafl iota of that inftance. I need noc
cite authorities to prove this to be the common
fentiment. It is too well known to be fo, by all who
are, in any meafure, verfed in the writings of expo-
fitors and divines. But how it came to pafs, that fo
grofs a miftake fhould generally prevail, cannot
eafily be accounted for, unlefs we fhould fuppofe
a general undue attachment to what at firfl took
rife, not from the facred books of fcripture, but
the imagination of fome highly celebrated, how-
ever fallible, man, when thinking and writing
upon the fubjedt. Not but that this is an eafy

and

DISSERTATION i. 5!

and natural miftake, if confidered in connexion
with another that was equally the fruit of fancy,
in thofe who firft fell into it 3 and this is, that
the man Adam came out of the creatine: hands
of God with fuch *^ perfedion" of adual know-
ledge, wifdom and holinefs, that he was at once
" perfedly" able to underftand the requirements
of the law of nature in every inftance, and " per-
fedly'* to comply with them. And, it is readily-
owned, if this had been the cafe in hd:, it would
be no ways unreafonable to think, that man
might have been put under a " covenant of
works," in the fenfe he is reprefented to have
been. But how unnatural would it be, upon
man's being made with faculties fitted for im-
provement to " perfcdion," to bring him in this
" perfe6t creature" all at once, before there had
been time for his making any confiderable ad-
vances towards it. We lliould, in this way, give
him a charatfter which, according to the confti-
tution of his nature, could not, at prefent, be
juftly applied to him, Befides, Mofes has given
us no fuch account of the firft man. On the
contrary, he has related many fads, as has been
already obferved, in confequence of which ic
moil evidently appears, that, whatever his im-
planted powers were, his a6tual knowledge and
holinefs were comparatively fmall.

And it is remarkable, the " law of trial" her

reprefents the man Adam to have been placed

under, is exaflly fuited to the idea he has Jed

E 2 us

52 DISSERTATION i.

us to entertain of him. It was not a " perfed'*
conformity to the " natural moral law of God;"
for as yet he knew but very Utrle of this law :
and the original implantation of a difpofition, or
tendency in his nature, to yield obedience to ir>
had not;» in any confiderable degree, been con-
firmed and ilrengthened by time and exercife.
It might therefore be improper in itfelf, an unfit
tinfuitable thing, that he fhould, in his prefent
fituation, be placed under *^ fuch a covenant of
works" as fome have been pleafed to contrive
for him. God might know,, that a trial of this
kind would have been too hard and fevere. And,
in truth, had he been put to ir, there would have
been fcarce any reafon to hope, if we may judge
by what afterwards came into fad, that he would
have acquitted himfelf with honour. For, as he
failed when tried in one inflance only, eafy in
kfelf, and fo plainly pointed out, that he could
not: well miifunderftand it; v;hat but death muft
have been the confequence, had this rule been
enlarged fo as to take in the law of nature in
every inftance> to be firft inveftigated, and then
practifed, by the fole ftrength of his own powers ?
It would have been morally impafiible for one,
in his inexperienced ftate, to have flood a trial
fo very difficult and dangerous.

His Creator was more kind to him, than many
of his pofterity have been fince. So Mofes has
informed us, and in words as plain and explicit
as he could well have ufed. According to his

account,.

DISSERTATION L S3

account, the rule of God's condii6l towards man
was, not what he might have colkaed from the
exercife of his reafon, however exalted in its
meafiire ; but what could be known by " reve-
lation" only. He was to ftand or fall, to live or
die — How ? By what Jaw ? Not by ^^ the law of
works," as requiring perfed, adual, indefea:able
obedience ; not by this law, in regard of any
one of its precepts: No; but by a '' pofuive
law/' in a <« fingle inflance," that is, a law that
was difcoverable, not by human faculties, though
exercifed in the moll perfed manner; but by
" immediate revelation" from heaven. So fpeaks
the facred hiftory. Gen. ii. 16, 17, *' Of every
tree of the garden thou mayell freely eat; but
of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou
Hialt not eat of it : for in the day that thou eateil:
thereof, thou fhalt furely die." The language
here is too exprefs to need any comaient, or to
admit of difpute.

And it is from hence obvious, at the firfl
glance, that <« faith in God," and not a " prin-
ciple of mere reafon," mud have given rife to the
obedience here required. Adam indeed could
not have obeyed, it v/ould have been an im-
poflibility in nature, but from " faith" in the " re-
velation" God had made of his mind in this
matter. This mufl have been the governing
principle in his heart. And it was *^ effentially"
owing to the want of this principle, either v/holly,
pr in a fufEcient degree, hov^ever it came about,
E 3 that

54 DISSERTATION I.

that he *^ eat of the tree," concerning which God
had faid to him, *' thou (halt not eat of it."

It would therefore be the truth, itri«5lly and
properly fpeaking, fl-iould it be affirmed, that our
firfl father, no more than his pofterity, could
have *^ pleafed God" without the real being and
exercife of *^ faith i" and that he could no more,
before his lapfe, than after it, have fccured the
poflcfTion and enjoyment of life, in any v/ay but
by <' grace through faith." It is acknowledged,
there is an enlargement of grace, and of the ob-
j eel fail h, fince the lapfe; but flill, man, in his
innocent ilate, would have been *' faved by
grace," if faved at all, and through the exercife
of '' faith," as truly in his innocent (late, as his
pofterity are in their iapfed one. So that <' the
law of faith" took place from the beginning of
the world, and v/as the '^ rule" or meafure of
God's condud towards even innocent man, and
not a " covenant of works," as has been ima-
<^ined. We never indeed read;^ in all the Bible,
of any " covenant of works" that God entered
into with Adam. The only covenant of '' this
kind" it fpeak^ of is the '' Sinai" one, made with
the Jewifh nation. And this is that '^ firft" or
^« old" covenant, v/hich is fometimcs contrafted
with the *' fecond" or «^ new" covenant.

It will probably be afl^ed here, Was the one
man Adam then left at liberty, in his original
(late, with refpecft to all other works but this
fpecial onp of ^} faith/' on which hi§ qqntinuanse

DISSERTATION I. ^s

in life was dependent ? Was he under no obli-
gations to " the law of nature/' the law of reafon,
which is the law of God ? And had he violated
<« this law/' would he not have incurred the dif-
pleafure of his Maker?

The anfwer is obvious. He was, without all
doubr, under flri<fb indifpenfable obligations to
obey every other command of God, wherein in
fhould be made known to him, as truly as " this
fpecial" one; and muft have rendered himfelf
obnoxious to the righteous refentments of his
God and King, had he exprefled a difregard to
any of them. But then, i^: muft be added, it
was mofl certainly with a view to his being thus
obedient, and in this way efcaping the Divine
difpleafure, that God faw fit, in his great wifdoni
and goodnefs, to place him under this ^' fpecial
rule of trial."

It ought not to be fuppofed, that God would
•have made a " mere poficive command," per-
haps, indifferent as to the " matter" of it, th«
*^ rule" of his conduft towards man, merely for
the fake of difplaying his authority -, or that he
did thisp as laying greater ftrefs upon obedience
lo a pofitive precept, than one that was founded
on the eternal unchangeable reditude of his own
nature *• To think or fpeak thus, would be

grofsiy

• Thofe who afk, why was AJam's obcllcrce tr-cd Jn a

merely pofitive inftance ? do not confider, *♦ that an experinieirt

** of it could fcarce have been mide in any of the moral precppts ;

E 4 ** whici>

5^ DISSERTATION I.

groibly to reflect on the all-wifcj righteous and
holy Governor of the world. He mud liave had
Ibme great and noble defign in placing innocent
man under this particular confritution, rather
than any other. And in order to our conceiving
juftly of it, let it be obferved,

Man was now but juft brought into exiftencei
and though he polTeiled powers uerfed:ly fitted for
his gradually making the highelt advances^ proper
to a creature of his rankji yet he had not, at
prefent, had time or opportunity for any con-
fiderable improvements. Under thefe circum-
itances, God did nor judge it fuitable to leave
him to the fole guidance, either of his implanted
faculty of underfcanding, or difpofition to vir-
tuous and holy pradice. He was rather pleafed
to take him under his own care, that he might
be under the beft advantage, in order to his.
gradually rifing, in harmony with the conftitution
of his nature, to " that perfedion" in adlual
knowledge, wifdom^ and every other good qua-

*' which there was no occafion to violate. For what {hould
•' tempt him to idolatry, or to take God's name in vain, or to
" murder his wife ? How was it poflible to commit adultery,
** when there was no bo iy but he and (he in the world r How
*' could he fteal, or what room was there then f r coveting,
*' when Gpd had put him in poHeflion of all things? It had
** been in vain to forbid that which could not be done; and it
** hod not been virtue to ablUin from that to which there was
** no temptation, but from that uhich invited him to tranf-
!• grefs." Bifhop Patrkk, in his note oa Gen, ii. ij^

litjf

DISSERTATION I.

51

lity he was originally made capable of attain-

ing to,

And the " fpecial connmand" God gave him,
was the expedient to this purpofe ; and an ad-
mirably well-contrived one : for it was virtually,
and in true defign, a command carrying in it
luch language as this, Hearken to my voice,
believe what I fay, keep within the reftrainc
I have laid ppon you. You will find your
account in fo doing. I will, in this cafe, be
your guard and guide, your inftrudor and afTift-
ant, fo as that you lliall be preferved blamelefs^^
and attain to an eftabliflied perfeftion in all
acquirements proper to your nature. But if,
through unbelief, you fet yourfelf up for your
own direiftor, and follow your own inventions,
you fhall foon fee your folly in what you will
cxpofe yourfelf to.

The '• enforcement*' with which the com-
mand to Adam was accompanied, obvioufly and
neceflarily contains in it all this. If, from ^' faith
in God," he had obeyed his voice, and fo long
as he had done fo, he would have had a fure and
jufl: claim to the '^ life" that was promifed upon
this condition. But what was '* this life ?" We
may be fure, it was not merely or fimply his
being continued in exiftence, but his pofTefling
it in a (late of favour with God, and to the true
purpofes of living. And if fo, then with fuf-
ficient reafon to expecl, that his Maker would
haye been Iii^ never-failing patrop and friend;

afford-

58 DISSERTATION I.

affording him, at all times, and in all circuni-
fiances, protedion, inftruflion and help : info-
much, that he (hould have advanced, by quick
and fafe fleps, in all fpiritual underflanding and
godly virtuous pra6lice, till he had been formed
to a «' meetnefs" for a confirmed flate of glory
and honour, above the need of being any further
under difcipline and trial. Whereas, if, through
unbelief of God's word, he fhould chufe to be
his own counfellor and guide, trufting in himfelf
and his own abilities, the confequence muft have
heeiiy the lofs of God's favour, and an imme-
diate liablenefs to the threatened death. Nothing
■fhort of all this will come up to the full meaning
of the " conftitution" Adam was placed under.
And if this was its meaning, it was a mod kind
and ample provifion for his beft good.

He certainly flood in need of fuch a teacher
and guide, as God here offered himfelf to be.
In his prefent unexperienced and unimproved
flate, he would have been in extreme hazard
of being betrayed into miftakes, both in judg-
ment and praclice, if, inflead of the counfel of
the all-knowing God, he had had only his own to
have depended on for his guidance in the way of
truth and holinefs. This '^ fpecial command of
God" may therefore be reafonably looked upon,
not only as a ftanding, (Iriking call to him to give
credit to God's voice, depending on him, and
not on his own unimproved underflanding and
reafpn for the diredion of his condud; but a

kind

DISSERTATION I, 59

ywd and gracious afTurance, while he did thus,
of God's readinefs to be all along prefent with
hiiTJ, to guard hinn againft evil and danger, and
.to do whatever might be proper, on his part, hi
order to his attaining the end of his creation, viz.
his rifing to fuch heights in intelledual and moral
improvements, as would make him, in his mea-
lure, adtually and perfeclly like to the blefTed
God, and fo prepared for an immortajity of glory
and happinefs with iiim.

The " rule of trial" our fird father was placed
under, viewed in this point of light, is, at once^
fet free from all juft exception. — It was properly
adjufted to his real charader^ not being above,
nor below his abilities, which ought, in reafon,
to have been the cafe. — And it was a wifely ap-
pointed mean to promote both the honour of
God and the bed good of man : As it was power-
fully adapted, not only to teach him implicitly
to believe, and unrefervedly to obey his Maker;
but to influence and engage him hereto, by
threatening, on the one hand, certain ruin in
cafe of his following his own counfel in oppo-
fition to God's direction, and promifing, on the
other, that, upon hearkening to God's voice, he
fliould be fo conduced in life, under the guar-
dianfhip of hfis Creator, as to make the higheft
advances in holinefs and happinefs his nature was
capable of. Whereas, if he is confidered^ ac-
cording to the ^common reprefentation that is
made of him, as created with a fund of light in

his

6o DiSSERTAriON I.

his underflanding at once fufficient for his guid-
ance into all truth, and with a difpofition in his
heart equally fufHcient imnnediately to put him
upon all holy praflice, the Mofaic account, both
of him and the conftitution he was under, will
be burthened with infuperablc difficulties. There
■would, in this cafe, be no proportion between
*« the law of trial/* and ^« the man to be tried."
It would be too low for one of fuch exalted fur-
niture. — Nor can it eafily be imagined, what
valuable end could have been propofed, or at-
tained, by putting a creature fo excellently en-
dowed upon fuch a kind of trial. — Befides all
which, it could not, in any reafonable way, be
accounted for, that he fhould, upon being tried
in fo comparatively inconfiderable a matter, have
been enfnared and feduced : efpecially, as the
temptation by which this was done mud, to fuch
a creature as he is now fuppofed to be, have
appeared, upon the bare propofal, contemptibly
ridiculous and abfurd.

Men may, if they pleafe, talk at random about
this matter j firfl: bringing in man at once perfed
in intellciflual and moral accompliOiments, and
then placing him under a trial that would have
been too inconfiderable for any qf his imperfed
poderity, arrived at the common meafure of
underftanding; yea, a much lighter one thaa
fome of them have actually pafled through with
honour, though he, with his endowments height-
«:ncd to perfedion, was enticed and drawn afide.

But

DISSERTATION L 6i

But the vain imaginations of men mufl not be
taken for the truth of Scripture. We are very
obvioufly led from thence to think of the firit
man, as made for '^ progreOive improvement,"
and not that perfected creature at once he could
have been only in a courfe of time, and in con-
fequence of the proper ufe of his implanted
faculties. This is agreeable to what appears, in
fadu, to have been the efrablifned order of nature
from the beginning of the world j and it has all
along uniformly taken place v/ith refpe6l to all
the creatures of all kinds it pleafed God to
make; efpecially in regard of man, a creature
of the iirft or higheft rank. And the conftitution
he was placed under, fo far as we give credit ta
the facred books, and do not judge by mere fancy,
v/as evidently fuitcd, not to a creature of any
exalted degree of prefcnt actual underftandingy
or holinefs j but to one only capable of ir, and
advancing towards it. And it was under this
conftitution, as a mean principally intended
herefor, that he was gradually to attain to the
pcrfe6tion of his nature.

The fum of what has been faid, under the
foregoing obfervations, repreicnting the contents
of the Mofaic account of the firft man in his
innocent (late, to place it in one view, is this,
that he was made male and female^ the mod
excellent creature in this lower world, pofTcfTing
the higheft and noblefl rank : That he was made
by an ^^ immediate" exertion of almighty power,

and

6i DISSERTATION L

and not by God's agency, in concurrence with'
fecond caufes, operating according to an efta-
bliflied conrfe or order: That he was made in
*' the image of God ," meaning hereby, not an
adual, prefcnt, perfe6t likenefs to him, either
in knowledge, wifdom, holinefs, or happinefs,
but with implanted powers perfectly adjuded
to each other, and as perfedly fitted for his
gradually attaining to this likenefs, in the higheft
meafure proper to a being of his rank in the
creation : Thar, upon being thus made, he was
conflituted the " head'* or " root" of the humart"
race, from whom, as the fecondary inilrumencal
caufe, like eficntial powers with his own fiiouldy
according to a divinely fettled order, be tranf-
mitced toothers, and from thofe others, to others
iViWy throughout all generations 5 that is, powers
inferring a capacity in nature of their being
formed to a refemblance of the Deity in his
moral glory, in confequence of which they would
be individuals of the fame kind that he was, and
diftin^uiflied from all the other creatures: In

o

fine, that being made, not perfect at once in
adual knowledge or holinefs, or any other intel-
jedlual or moral quality, but with implanted
powers only rendering him capable of gradually
•attaining to this perfeflion, he was placed by his
Maker under a ««fpecial law or rule," principally
defigned as a fuitable and powerful mean to guard
him ngainfb danger in his prefent unimproved
lUte, and to encourage, afiiH:, and conduct his

endea-

DISSERTATION I. 6^

endeavours in the ufe of his faculties, fo as that
he naight gradually rife to as near a likenefs to
'GodMn all intelledlual and moral acquifitions, as
was poflible for fuch a creature as he was, and in
this way be prepared for complete and perfed:
happinefs.

This account of the creation of the firft man,
and of his ftate while innocent, is that which
Mofes has communicated to us, either exprefsly,
or in words that naturally and fairly import this
fenfe. And it is the whole we can now know
about him, as it is the whole that has, in an
authentic way, been handed down to us.

[ ^4 ]

DISSERTATION IL

0?2 the one wan Adam in his lapfed Jlate^ with
the temptation that bronght him into it.

NOtwithftanding what haS been faid of the
firfl: man Adam, defcriptive of his im-
planted powers, and the advantage he was under^
having God for his immediate inftruclor and
guide, to have made ufe of them to his gradu-
ally advancing in knowledge, holinefs and happi-
nefs, till he had attained the perfection proper to
his nature 5 he was foon overcome by temptation
to oilcnd in the very inftance wherein he was
forbid to do fo, hereby forfeiting tiie divine fa-
vour, and expofing himfelf to tliat death God
had threatened in cafe of his difobedience.

The account of this whole affair Mofes has
tranfmittcd to us ; and it is from hence we mud
form our notions, if we v/ould do it upon folid
grounds, of the true flate of our firfl progeni-
tors, in confequence of the lapfe, with the occa-
fion that led to it.

The words in which this account is given to

to us, may be ften an large in the third chapter

of Genefis. And tv/o things, in general, are

6 contained

DISSERTATION II. 65

contained in them which deferve our fpecial
notice, i. The " temptation" with which the
firft parents of men were afTaulted, and the
" offence'* it unhappily betrayed them into.
2, The " effedls" that followed upon their of-
fence, " both " natural" and "judicial.'* Thefe
are comprehenfive articles, which, if confidered
as they ought to be, will take in the whole that
Mofes has faid upon the matter.

L As to the " temptation" with which our
firft parents were aflaulted, and their " offence"
hereupon, it is thus recorded.

Genesis, Chap. III.

1. " Now the ferpent was more fubtle than
any bead of the field, which the Lord God had
rnade. And he faid unto the woman, Yea, hath
God faid, ye fhall not eat of every tree of the
garden."

2. " And the woman faid unto the ferpent.
We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the gar-
den;"

3. " But of the fruit of the tree which is in
the midft of the garden, God hath faid. Ye fhall
not eat of it, neither fhall ye touch it, left ye
die."

4. " And the ferpent faid unto the woman.
Ye fhall not furely die."

5. " For God doth know, that in the day ye
cat thereof, then your eyes fhall be opened -, and
yc fhall be as Gods, knowing good and evil."

F 6. " And

66 DISSERTATION II.

6. *' And when the woman faw that the tree
was good for food, and that it was pleafant to
the eyes, and a tree to be defired to make one
wife, (he took of the fruit thereof, and did eat,
and gave alfo unto her hufband with her, and he
did eat."

The narrative begins, " The fcrpent faid unto
the woman." — The fa6l here related is, that it was
a " ferpent" that converfed with Eve, and ma-
naged the temptation by which fhe was feduced.
Nor is it an objedtion of any force againft the li-
beral truth of this fadV, that elfewhere in fcrip-
ture an " evil fpirit ,*' called " Satan" the " de-
vil," the " prince of the power of the air, who
worketh in the children of difobedience," is
iuppofed to have been the " real agent" in this
matter. And, in truth, upon any other fup-
poUtion, it would be difficult, if poffible, to give
a good realbn, why the *^ devil" fliould be called
«' the old ferpent," as he is more than once
in the book of the Revelation ; why he fhould
be fpoken of in that ftyle, '^ the devil that fin-
neth from the beginnings" why he fliould be
termed " the father of lies," as being ^' a liar
*^ from the beginning," and, through his lying, a
<« murderer" alfo. But though he was the " great
agent" in this temptation, and the " ferpent'*
an " inftrument only" that he made ufe of;
yet it is the truth of fadt, that the *^ ferpent"
really fpake the words that are here faid to have
been uttered by him. It was by " his tongue'*
thofe modulated founds were made, which, by

the

DISSERTATION 11. 67

the fenfe of hearing, conveyed into Eve's mind
the ideas intended to be communicated by them.
Mofcs does not enter upon the queflion, how
thefe articulated motions in the air were occafion-
ed, whether by the ferpent himfelF, or as adtuated
by Tome fupcrior being : And it might, perhaps,
have been improper that he fliould. Eve knew
nothing as yet of the exiftence of angek, good
or bad : nor did fhe know it was beyond the
natural capacity of this " ferpent'* to fpeak as
Ihe perceived he did. Probably flie had, by ob-
fervation, been led to think, that fome of the
beafts were not endowed with the power of
fpeech y but fhe had not been long enough in
the world to know, that they were all deftitute
of it. And this may be the reafon of that re-
mark relative to the " ferpent,'* he was " more
Aibtle than any of the beafts of the fieki." She
might apprehend, he was made fuperior to any
of the inferior creatures (he had had opportunity
to know any thing about, in this fpecial refpedt^
that he was endowed with an ability to fpeak,
which they were not. Now, upon this repre-
fentation of the ftate of Eve's knowledge, there
is an obvious propriety in Mofes's account of this
fad. For he writes, as it was fit and natural
he fhould do, according to the " vifible appear-
ance" of the thing, as well as *' Eve's ap-
prehenfion" of it, at the time when it hap-
pened. Nor is he fingular in this manner of
writing. The Apoftle Paul, having occafion to
F 2 fpeak

6S DISSERTATION IL

fpeak of Eve*s being deceived, does it accord*
ing to the then appearance of the thing, in thefc
words, " the ferpent beguiled Eve •,'* faying no-
thing of the " devil," though he knew it was he
that a(5luated the ferpent. In like manner, the
Apoflle Peter, when fpeaking of Baalim, the foa
of Bofor, fays, " the dumb afs, fpeaking with
man's voice, forbad the madnefs of the pro-
phet;" and yet, he knew, at the fame time, that
the afs was only the " inftrument" God made
life of in the rebuke that was now given. Mo-
fes, therefore, may reafonably be looked upon as
" literally" writing a true fad, when he fpeaks
of a " ferpent" as talking with Eve, though it be
fuppofed, at the fame time, that the ferpent was
aduated by the " devil," and did not fay a
word in virtue of any natural power he was en-
dowed with, fufficient for the purpofe.

Some are pleafed to give us wonderful accounts
of this ferpent ; that he had wings, and could fly :
that he was of the firey kind, and made a mofl:
beautiful fhining appearance ; and that, being of
an ere6l figure, he could reach and take fruit
from the tree, of which our firft parents were
not permitted to eat. And they might have
gone on, and informed us flill further, that he
was the moft diftinguiflied of all ferpents, and
of all other beads, in that he was naturally ca-
pable of managing a difcourfe with art and de-
fign. But it ought to be remembered, Mofes
only fpeaks of him as a *^ ferpent, the moft fub-

tlc

DISSERTATION II. 69

de among the beads;" not faying a v/ord about
his wings, or beauty, or any other peculiarity.
All therefore we can depend upon as truth is,
that it was a " ferpent,'* in diftindion from all
other creatures, that was ufed as the " inftru-
ment" in the temptation that feduced the firft
of our race. Whatever defcriptions are given
of this ferpent, however fine and curious, are
the fruit of imagination only, and fhould be
carefully diftinguifhed from the truth of ferip-
ture-hiftory.

Mofes, having obferved that it was a *' fer-
pent'* that fpake to Eve, goes on to relate what
he faid. And his firft addrefs to her feems to
have been in the guife of an aflonifhed inquirer,
" Yea, hath God faid. Ye ihall not eat of every
tree of the garden ?" Upon Eve's acknowledg-
ing there v/as one tree, concerning which God
had faid, •' Ye fhall not eat of it, nor touch it,
left ye die :" the ferpent replies, faying to the
woman, " Ye fhall not furely die. For God doth
know, that in the day ye 'eat thereof, then your
eyes fhall be opened; and ye fhall be as Gods,
knowing good and evil.'* Thefe are the only
words Mofes relates to have been fpoken by the
ferpent; though others, by imaginary additions,
have made him fpeak in the moft artfully delufive
manner.

After they have introduced the ferpent '* play-
ing fomeof hiswily tricks," and, in the woman's
prefence, taking and eating of the tree fhe was
F 3 reftraincd

70 DISSERTATION II.

reftrained from touching, they reprefent him as
*^ putting on a luore feraphic, or angelical
ap pearance/' and addrcfling her in fuch lan-
gun.ge as this, '* You fee how the fruit of this
'' tree has exalted me; fo that from a bead of
*^ the field I am become a glorious " feraph,"
" and endued not only with fpeech, but with
" the knowledge of the Divine Will, which has
'* not been fully opened to you by God himfelf—
*' Can God pofTibly, do you think, have really
" intended, that you fhould not eat of the fruit
" of every tree of the garden, and of this in
** particular, which he himfelf has made and
*^ planted there ? What did he make and place
" it there fsr then ? — You are greatly miftaken.
«' The fruit is not deadly, nor will it kill you,
*^ any more than it has me. Alas I all that God
" meant, by faying it would defiroy you, was,
*' that it would change and transform you. But
*« fo far will it be from making you ceafe to
" be, that, in the day you eat of it, it will opea
*' and enlighten your eyes, asit has mine; and
" as it has railed me from a ferpent to a feraph,
*f endued with fpecch and knowledge of the di-
" vine counfels concerning you, fo it fliall like-
«^ wife raife you from being mortals to be Gods;
*' and, inftead of bringing death on you, make
" you immortal like the great Creator himfelf j
" giving you the fame kind of knowledge of
*^ good and evil that he has. You fliall then
" know the way to poflefs all the good you en-

" joy.

DISSERTATION II. 71

**joy, independently as he does 3 and you (hall
'* know how to avoid death, the threatened evii,
*^ which would for ever put an end to all your
^' blifs and felicity. Even difobedience itfelf will
*' not then be able to bring it upon you. In fine,
** you will find this tree to have the like powers
'* to improve and raife your minds, as the tree
** of life has, to preferve your bodies *."

Surely, this fpeech of the ferpent took rife
chiefly from imagination, not from any thing
Mofes has faid to give countenance to it. The
fad, as he reprefents it, appears, as it ought to
do, not fet off with laboured art and ornament,
but in a naked, plain, natural drefs. It is
little more than a repetition of the words God
had fpoken, with a bold denial of their truth, in
roundly affirming this falfehood, that, inflead
of dying, if they eat of this tree, " their eyes
fhould be opened ; and they fhould be as Gods,
knowing good and evil."

It fhould be remembered here, neither Adam
nor Eve had as yet had opportunity for any con-
fiderable acquaintance with the ufe or force of
words. It would therefore have been below the
" fubtlety of the ferpent," and indeed quire un-
natural for him, to have addreffed to the woman
in that variety of artful language which has been
put into his mouth. Such a manner of fpeak-
ing would not have been adjufted to her proper

* Eflay on the fevcral Difpenfations of God to Mankind,
p. 5, 6.

F 4 charader.

72 DISSERTATION IL

characfler. Whereas, Mofes's account, as it lies
in his hiftory, without the innaginary help of
others, is contained, as it was proper it (hould
be, in a few words, and fuch too as Eve, hav-
ing heard before, may be fuppofed to have eafily
underftood.

But however the words, in which the tempta-
tion was managed, are interpreted, they had their
intended and defired effedl; for they deceived the
woman into the thought, as the hiftory goes on,
*' that the tree was good for food, and to be defired
to make one wife." And (he accordingly ^^took
of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave alfo to
her hufband, and he did eat," in direct oppofition
to the exprefs command of God. And in this lay
their " offence," and not fimply in eating of this
tree, which might have been an indifferent matter,
had not God made it otherwife by interpofing a
pofitive declaration of his pleafure, that they
" fhould not eat of it," though they might
*' freely eat of every other tree in the garden."
It will poffibly be faid here, is it a thing cre-
dible, that the all-wife good God fhould permit
the entrance of fin into the world, as occafioned
in the manner that has been reprefented, by a,
'^ temptation" begun, and carried into effefl, by
a '' ferpenr," a6tuated by an " evil fpirit r'* Can
it reafonably be fuppofed, that he would, when
he had created man, have fuffered the devil^
before he had made any confiderable advances in
knowledge . and experience of the world, to

" tempt';

DISSERTATION II. 73

«' tempt" him, fo as to draw him into fin ; and,
in this way, bring ruin upon himfelf ? Is this a
fit thought to entertain of that God, who, of his
mere goodnefs, had given him exiftence, that he
might be happy in the love, fervice, and enjoy-^
rnent of the original fource of all being, and
of all good ?

The anfwer is this : It is in fact true, that
fin and forrow now are, and all along have
been, in the world, however difficult it may be
to account for their entrance. And difficult it
really is, and vaftly fo, upon the principle of
^' reafon," as well as " revelation.'' The great-
eft philofophers, in all ages, have found it a
depth they could not fathom. The queftion,
therefore, remains unrefolved by them to this
day, TTohv TO KXKovy '^ whcttcc came evil ?'* It
is not pretended, that the difficulty is removed
by what is faid upon the matter in the facred
books. It is a difficulty ftill ; though not fo
great an one as it was before. It is certainly lef-
fened, and not increafed.

The difficulty, as peculiar to the Mofaic hif-
tory, and as Itated in the above objedion, lies in
this, that fin, and ruin thereupon, fhould be
occafioned by " temptation" from an *' evil
fpirit,'* and as pradifed upon the firft parents
of men, before there had been time for their
making any '^ confiderable improvements" in
knowledge, experience, and goodnefs.

As

74 DISSERTATION IL

As to the firft part of this fuggefted difficultf,
man's being led into fin by ** temptation from
** an evil fpirit," I would fay.

Temptation, in general, is the only conceiv-
able, it may be, the only pofTible way, in which
innocent man could have been induced to fin.
It would be ftrange, unaccountably fo, if he had
finned without any confideration exciting him
hereto. But he could not have been excited,
without being tempted. To excite to fin, in
whatever view it be confidered, is to tempt to it.
The terms, though different, yet carry in them,
at leaft in the prefect cafe, one and the fame
meaning. To fay, therefore, that our firft fa-
ther could not have been placed in a flate of
temptation, is, in reality of fenfe, to fay, that
he muft have been impeccable j which is the
privilege, perhaps, of no creature in virtue of his
mere natural powers, however advanced we may
fuppofe them to be.

Befides, the placing man in a flate wherein he
might be tempted, generally confidered, is not
a difiicuky peculiar to the Scripture. It is the
truth, refpefting all mankind, that they are fent
into a v/orld full of temptation 5 which is a dif-
ficulty, fo far as it is one at all, in point of reafon
as well as revelation. And it as much concerns
thofe to folve ir, who have faith only in the be-
ing, perfections, and moral government of God,
as thofe who, befides this, have faith in the
B'ble, as a revelation of his will.

The

DISSERTATION II. 75

The difficulty, therefore, as it relates to the
prefent objedlion, lies only in this fpecial circum-
flance of the temptation, its being managed by
" an evil fpirit/' And why not by an evil fpi*
rit, as well as by an evil man, or by a world fo
conftituted as to be capable of being a tempta-
tion, by its fmiles or frowns? It is not at all
unphilofophical to fuppofe the exigence of angels,
either good or bad. We may more reafonably
think, there are intelligent moral beings of va-
rious orders fuperior to ours, than that there are
not. It is indeed the general opinion of '^ rea-
foners," that thus it really is. And analogy
would lead one to imagine, that there may be,
among thefe orders, fome that are evil as well as
good. What relation or connedlion there is
between thefe fuperior intelligences, and us men,
we know not with any degree of certainty ; but
fhould any take upon them to affirm there are
none, and that God might not ufe them as in-
ilruments in the government of our world, they
would fay more than they have any warrant to
do. It is no ofFence againfl: any dictate of fober
rcafon, to fuppofe the truth of what the Scrip-
ture declares, that the good angels are God's
" minifters fent forth to minifterto them who are
lieirs of falvation;" and that the evil angels
are permitted by him, as his wifdom fees fit, to
*' work in thofe who are already the children of
difobedience i" and in others, in order to tempt
them to be fo. And what difference is there,

in

76 DISSERTATION II.

in the reafon of the thing, between a temptation,
arifing from the folicitations of a wicked man,
and of an evil angel ? If the temptation, whether
it comes from the one or the other, is not fuf-'
fered by God to be difproportioned to the flrength
of the agent that is tempted, but he is left, not-
withftanding, to his own choice, fo as that it
"will be, properly fpeaking, his " own fault,''
ihould he comply with it, what juft reafon is
there for complaint? And what greater reafon
for it, fl:ould it be managed by the " devil,"
than by thofe who are his children ? It does not
appear to make any alteration in the tmc nature
of the cafe, or its afped on the moral attributes
and governm.ent of God, whether the former or
the latter are the tempters to evil.

I may not improperly add here, if it became
the wifdom and goodnefs of the all-perfedl Be-
ing, to fufFer our firft parents to be " tempted'*
in any way whatever [and why not they, as well
as their pofterity ever fince], this, in which
Mofes fays it was done, is as natural and ra-
tional a one as can eafily be imagined. PofTi-
bly, it was the only one, confidering their then
fituation, in which their virtue could have been
proved by their having opportunity and occa-
fion to a6t their part well when tempted to the
contrary. Inordinancy of appetite could have
been no temptation to them ; for this had not as
yet any place in them. A temper of mind in-
clining them to oppofe the authority of God,

, could

D I S S E R t A 1 1 O IsT II. 77

could be no temptation to them ; for they were
totally void of fuch a difpofition. How then
could they have been tempted, but in a way
adapted to lead them into an apprchenfion of
the command of their Creator, that differed from
what it really intended ? This, accordingly, is
the method Mofcs has related. And as to
*^ Satan's" being the agent in endeavouring thus
to delude them, it is as natural as any part of
the ftory, and ftridly rational. What other be-
ing could have done this ? It would be glaringly
abfurd to fuppofe fuch a thing of God, or the
holy angels. And Adam and Eve, the only in-
telligent beings now exifting in our world, could
not, in this way, have been tempters to each
other, till they had previoufly lofl their inno-
cency. Who then but fome " evil intelligence,'*
of fome other clafs of beings, could have afled
the part of a tempter to them ? And, as it was
in " man's voice" that God fpake to them, when
he reflrained them, by his command, from "eat-
*' ing" of fuch a particular tree in the garden,
the way was pointed out, in which it would be
moft natural to fuppofe Satan fhould addrefs to
them in order to deceive them. It perfedly
agrees with his charadter as a fubtle, as well as
wicked fpirit, to think that he would fpeak to
them in "man's voice," as God had done jufl:
before. Nor is it abfurd to fay, that God might
permit this application of Satan to them, any
more than it would be to fay, he might permit

him,

78 DISSERTATION It.

him, in like manner, to tempt their pofterity, or
fuffer them to be tempted in any other way :
always provided, that he fo luperintends and go-
verns the temptation, that it fhall be only a
proper trial of virtue, a trial adjufled to men's
ftate and charader; and fuch as, notwithftand-
ing the temptation, will leave them juftly
chargeable with fin, as being themfelves the
*' faulty caufes," if they are drawn afide to a
compliance with the thing they are tempted to.

And this leads me to the other branch of the
objedtion, Satan's being permitted to tempt our
firll parents " before they had time for any
confiderable improvements in knowledge and
experience."

To which I would fay, that it makes no real
alteration, in the rcafon of the thing, whether
their improvements were fmall or great, as hav-
ing had a (horteror longer time for the advances
proper to their nature, if the temptation did not
exceed their abilities; but was fuch only as they
might have overcome, and would have over-
come, had it not been their own fault. And
this was evidently the truth of the cafe, as Mo-
fcs has related it. There does not appear any
thing in the temptation beyond the flrength of
the firft man and woman, however unimproved
we can reafonably fuppofe therw to have been.
Satan's addrefs contained little more than a bold,
impudent contradidion of what God had faid to
them. God had told them, " they fhould die,
" if they cat of the forbidden tree." Satan tells

4 them.

DISSERTATION II. ^^

them, " they Ihould not die," but rather
«* become wife, and knowing as Gods.'* This
is the whole of what he faid. And furely the
firft man and woman muft have been unim-
proved beyond all reafonable conception of their
character, if they were not able to have refilled
this temptation. It is indeed a temptation ad-
jufted to fmall advances in knowledge; but
thofe fmall advances were abundantly fufficient
to have overcome it. To be fure, there appears
nothing in the hidory, relative either to the
temptation, or the abilities of our firft parents,
that fhould lead one to think they were tempted
above what they might have borne, without be-
ing feduced into fin.

It appears, I v/ould hope, upon the whole,,
that the account Mofes has given us of the ^^ fall"
of our firft parents, far from being trifling, ridi-
culous, or abfurd, and therefore incredible in
itfelf, is grave, folid, and rational ; not juftly
liable to the objedlions that have been raifcd
againft it, but as unexceptionable as any that can
be thought of, and therefore an account that no
one need be aftiamed to own that he receives, as
containing the real truth.

It is acknowledged, Mofes has faid nothing
upon the queftion, how could our firft parents
have been drawn afide to difobey God, by means
of the deviTs temptation, when they might,
notwithftandingj have retained their innocency,
and were furniftied with fufficient ability here-

for?

85 DISSERTATION IL

for ? Neither has he offered any thing to recon-
cile God's permitting hina to fin, with the moral
attributes of his nature; which is the greatefl
difficulty by far that attends the cafe. But he
may eafily be cxcufed for his filence upon thefe
points, if it be confidered, that he was, in his
own proper charader as a man, unable to give
a faiisfadlory account of thefe matters, and that
God did not fee fit to inftrud him how to do it;
and for this, among other reafons, bccaufe, in the
prefent flate of our faculties, we may be inca-
pable of feeing to the bottom of fo great a depth.
But then, it ought to be remembered, thefe are
difficulties not peculiar to revelation. However
fin firft came into the world, whether in the way
Mofes has related, or any other, the queflions flill
recur, and in their full force — How came man to
fin ? How came the infinitely holy and good God
not to prevent the entrance of that into the world,
which is fo odious in his fight, and deftrudlive in
its confequences, when, fo far as we are able to
conceive of the matter, he might, with infinite
eafe, have done it ? And it becomes thofe to
ceafe from clamouring againft revelation upon
thefe points, who do not find themfelves able^
upon the foot of folid reafon, to give a clear and
fatisfaclory folution of them. For it as truly be-
longs to them to do this, as thofe who are be-
lievers in Mofes and the prophets, in JefusChnft
and his apoftlcs.

II. The

DISSERTATION 11. Si

II. The other thing mentioned as worthy of
fpecial notice is, the " efFe(5l" that was confe-
quent upon the lapfe of our firft parents, both
*^ natiirar* and "judicial,"

What " naturally" followed upon their offence,
Mofes has handed to us thus.

Genesis, Chap. Ill,

7. " And the eyes of them both were opened,
and they knew that they were naked ; and they
fewed fig-leaves together, and made themfelves
aprons,'*

8. *' And they heard the voice of the Lord
God, walking in the garden in the cool of the
day : and Adam and his wife hid themfelves
from the prefence of the Lord God among the
trees of the garden."

9. " And the Lord God called to Adam, and
faid unto him, Where art thou ?"

10. " And he faid, I heard thy voice in the
garden : and I was afraid, becaufe J was na-
ked ; and I hid myfdf."

11. " And he faid. Who told thee that thou
waft naked ? Haft thou eaten of the tree,
whereof I commanded thee that thou fliouldeft
not eat r"

12. " And the man faid. The woman whom
thou gaveft to be with me, Ihe gave me of the
tree, and I did eat."

13. *^ And the Lord God faid unto the wo-
man, What is this that thou haft done ? And

G the

82 DISSERTATION II.

the woman fald. The ferpent beguiled me, and
I did cat."

The firft thing related as confequent upon the
difobedience of Adam and Eve is, that " their
eyes were opened s*' not in the fenfe they were
told they would be, when the ferpent fpake to
them, but in a quite different one. The eyes of
their underftanding were opened, not to make
them '^ wife and knowing as Gods," but to fee
themfelves guilty creatures, and, as fuch, ex-
pofed to the righteous difpleafure of their
Maker. They now knew more than they did
before; but it was knowledge accompanied with
felf-difapprobatiofi 3 arifing from an inward con-
fcioufnefs of having tranfgrelTed the command of
God, which defcrved punifhment, they v/ere at a
lofs how to efcape.

It therefore follows, " they knew that they
v;ere naked." If thefe words are interpreted,
as they commonly have been, to fignify that they
were now afFefled with ^' fhame," being without
any ^V veftment to cover their bodies," the mean-
ing could not be juftified upon any principle of
folid reafon. Why fhould they, in this fenfe,
be afhamed of their nakednefs after their fall, any
more than before it? If being together without
any cover on their bodies was, in the nature of
the thing, a jufl ground for fliame, they ought
1:9 have been afaamed before their offence in

eating

DISSERTATION II. 8j

eating of the forbidden tree. If it was fhameful
in its own nature, it was fo before as well as after
the lapfe. Befides, this fenfe of the word is
quite foreign to the purpofe for which it is here
inferted. Mofes, therefore, fpeaks of " fear/*
not *' Ihame/' as the pafTion that was now excited
in them. It is accordingly obfervable, he brings
in Adam, upon God's call to him, as Hiying,
ver. JO. "I was afraid, becaufe I was naked,
and I hid myfelf." Surely, his being '^ afraid,'*
and thereupon •' hiding himfelf," did not arife
from this fentiment, that " his body was naked,"
meaning hereby, that it was not " clothed !"
What pertinency is there in this fenfe of the word
to his prefent condition, as a finful, expofed crea-
ture ? It would have been ridiculous in him to
have given it as the reafon of his '* fear" to come
before God, that he had no clothes on, when the
true and only reafon was, that he had difobeyed
his command, and thereby incurred his difplea-
fure: nor will any other reafon confifl with the
fcope and circumiftances of the fbory, of which
this word is an important part.

Perhaps, the phrafe, " they were naked,'* may
be fairly conftrued, they were in an '' uncovered
Hate," not concealed from the fight, and with-
out all defence or protection againfl the refent-
ments of God. A late valuable writer has, I
think, very jultly obferved, '' that the word we
'' render « naked," befides its mod obvious fig-
" nification, is ufed, by a fort of metaphor, in
*' other fenfes, in many places of the Scriptures."

Cr 2 He

84 DISSERTATION II.

He particularly mentions, that in Job, where it
is faid, *' Hell is [naroin] naked before him, and
^' deftruflion hath no covering ;" that is, <' hell
<^ and deftrudllon lie open, not concealed from
" the eye, nor in any way covered from the ven-
" geance of God." This fenfe of the word, as
ufed by Mofes, is exadtly fuited to the charader
and ftate of the perfons to whom it is applied,
and carries in it a pertinent, fignificative, and
fcrong meaning. It is natural to fuppofe the
palTion of " fear," in Adam and Eve, was fet
in motion from a fenfe of fin and guilt j efpe-
cially as their eyes told them " they were naked,'*
that is, in a defencelefs ftate, altogether unco-
vered from the fight and ftrokc of their Maker,
who had threatened them with death, in cafe of
difobedience. And no wonder, if their thoughts
run upon contriving fome method to cover them-
felves.

It is, therefore, added in the next following
words, in perfect agreement with what has been
offered, *' they fewed fig-leaves together, and
*^ made themfelves aprons." Says the above
named Author, with great propriety, " the
«^ word which we render *' leaves" is, in the
<' text, not " plural," but *' fingular j" and, I
'^ apprehend, that both here, and in fome other
«' places of Scripture, it ihould be rendered, not
*^ leaves," but a ^^ foliature," or ^' intertwining of
<^ leaves " and that the whole paragraph fhould
«« be thus tranflated : " They wreathed together
«< a foli^Hure of a fig-tree, and made themfelves

^' enwrap-

€(

D I S S E R T A T I O N II. S5

enwrapments," /. e, they wrapped themfelves

up in them." What they wanted was to '' hide
^* themfelves from God.'* An apron, or cinciure
** about their waifts would in novvife anfwer this
*^ purpofe; — but the cafing themfelves up with-
*^ in boughs full of leaves, to look like trees,
" they might imagine would be fufHcient to cover
"them from the fight of God."

It may feem a reflection on the intclle6lual
powers of the firfl parents of mankind, to fup-
pofe them capable of thinking, that they could
conceal themfelves from the fight of God by fo
trifling a cover as the befl: that could be made
of " fig-leaves." But it ought to be confidereJ,
this did not difcover greater weakncfs, t^ian their
attempt to " hide themfelves from him among
the trees of the garden ;" which yet isexprefsly
aflirmed of them.

It fhould be remembered here, as we pafs
along, it is, from this part of the fl:ory, made
evident beyond all difpute, that the advances of
our firfl: parents in knowledge were as ytt but
fmall. Surely, if they had been that perfeclly
knowing pair it has been often faid they were, it
would be altogether unconceivable, that they
fliould have endeavoured, in fuch a poor low
way, to have fcreened themfelves from the eye
and power of God. It is true, they had now lod
their innocence; but nothing is faid that would
lead one to think, they had lofl: their under-
fl:andings too, or that they knew lefs ** fpecula-
tively'' of God now, than they did before.
G 3 The

S5 DISSERTATION IL

The knowledge of their *Mieads," whatever that-
of their " hearts" might be, was much the
fame immediately after, that it was before
their " one offence." They certainly had not
attained beyond an " infantile" kind of know-
ledge and experience. And in this view of their
character, they might, as they had loft the
guidance of God to follow their own counfel>
be fo ignorant before him as, in the hurry of
their thoughts, through guilt and fear, to go
into the methods of fafety here fpecified, however
foolifh they m.ay appear to thofe who have more
knowledge of God and the world.

The plain truth is, " fhame/* arifing from
the want of clothes to cover their nakednefs,
could not be the paffion now working in their
breafts. They had offended their Creator and
God by a prefumptuous zd: of difobedience,
hereby rendering themfelves liable to immediate
death. Their " eyes v/ere opened" to fee their
fin and danger. They were, hereupon, inwardly
moved and affected — With what? Surely, not with
*' fhame," becaufe they had no garment to cover
their bodies. What connedlion has this with
their prefent flate of confcious guilt ? Their
thoughts could not have been employed upon
fo trifling an affair. No ; " fear" was the paf-
fion that alarmed their hearts. And this put
them, in the prefent confufed ftate of their
minds, upon firft providing a *' cover for their
bodies," and then upon '' hiding themfelves
among the trees in the garden," that they
might, if poffiblc, efcape the obfcrvation of

their

D t S S E R T A T 1 O N tl. g^

their Maker: all which is natural, audjuft whac
might have been expeded of perfons in their cir-
cumftances.

I am not infenfible, there is another way, in
which fome have endeavoured, v/hile they ex-
plain the word " naked" in its moil obvious
ftni^e, to give it a proper place, and fignificative
force, in the Mofaic flory. Ic is by fuppofing,
that Adam and Eve, in their innocent ftate, were
" covered with a robe of glory," as the badge
or fymbol of their fuperiority and dignity •, but
that, being ftripped of it immediately upon their
lapfe, they knew, by feeing themfelves to be
" naked," deprived of this glorious veftmenr, that
they had forfeited the favour of their Maker,
and lay expofed to his righteous difpleafure. This,
it is acknowledged, will give an important fenfe
to the word, and fuch an one as will perfedlly
confift with the whole account of their fall, of
which it is a part. And was there fufficient
reafon to receive it for truth, that our firft na-
rents were thus " covered with a robe of glory,*'
while innocent, but " ftripped" of it after they
had finned, I fhould readily fall in with the {enCe
that is herefrom put upon the term *^ naked." I
will not fay, the patrons of this opinion have
nothing to offer in vindication of it. Perhaps,
it is rather grounded on plaufible conjei5lures
from certain *^ modes of fpeech" fometimes to
be met with in the Scriptures, than on reafons
that will bear a thorough examination, Mofes

G 4 does

88 DISSERTATION IL

does not feem to countenance it, unlefs from the
connected ufe of the word ** naked j" which, as
we have feen, nnay be otherwife accounted for.
And it is remarkable, he has exprefsly faid con-
cerning the firft pair, in their innocent ftate, that
*' they were both naked," the man and his wife,
*^ and they were not alliamed*." It was not, there-
fore, when they were firft created, that they were
thus " clad with glory ;'* but afterwards^, if at all :
of which the facred hiftorian has made no men-

* *' It is very obvious to remark," fays one, ** how our tranfia-
" tors and commentators came to have a notion of Adam and
*' Eve's *' fhame" for their *' nakedneff.'* It being here ob-
** ferved, that no Ihame attended their being naked before they
♦' eat of the tree, it was concluded, that a *' ftiame of being
" naked" entered with fm into the world." But," fays he,
among other things, ** I apprehend the truth to be, that this
" verfe was not intended at all to fpeak of their being *• naked
" as to clothing.*' As the word ** naked" has metaphorical
" fenfes in the Old Tellannent ; fo alfo has the word which we
** here tranflate *' afhanr.ed." It is far from fignifying, in all
'* places, being afFedted with what we call the paffion of
*' fhame." It often means being '*' confounded," or" dellroy-
u ed.'' — And this was Mnfes's meaning in the word here ufed ;
** a meaning of it perfedly coinciding with what afterwards ap-
** peared to be his fentiment of man's ftandingperfonally to hear
** the voice of God. Mofes elfewhere (peaks of i: to be noor-
" dinary mercy, that a man ** fhould hear the voice of God and
•* live ;'* and therefore he might here leave us this obfervation
** concerning our firft parents, that God fpake to them, and
*' that, although they flood *' naked" before him, /'. e. in his
** more immeciate prefence under ** no coverture," nigh to him
«« to *' hear the voice of his words talking to them," they ex-
" pcrienced what Mofcs always reputed a very extraordinary
«' thin'^, that " God did ta!k with jtian,*' and they were net
«* confounded," but** lived,"

tion.

DISSERTATION II. Bg

tion. And I know of no nght others have to
fupply this defed:.

I fhould now have proceeded, according to
the method laid our, to confider the " judicial''
confequences of the lapfe, as they refpedl the firfl
man and woman. But it will be previoufly pro-
per to take fome notice of thofe remarkable in-
tervening words of Mofes.

Ver. 14. " And the Lord God faid unto the
ferpent, Becaufe thou had done this, thou arc
curfed above all cattle, and above every bead
of the field: upon diy belly fhak thou go, and
duft flialt thou eat all the days of thy life."

15. " And I will put enmity between thee
and the woman, and between thy {'ctd and her
feed ^ it fhall bruife thy head, and thou fiiak
bruife his heel/'

It may be needful jud to fay here, as God
knew, though Adam and Eve might nor, that ic
was the" devil," in the body of the " ferpent,*'
and not the ferpent himfelf, that had managed
the temptation by which they were led into
fin 5 it is noways unnatural or unreafonable to
fuppofe, that it was in reality " the devil
in the ferpent," and not " the ferpent him-
felf," to whom thefe words arc directed : though,
being fpoken in the prefence of the man and the
woman, and with a view to their attending to them,
they are exprefled according to the "appearance''
of things, and their " apprchenfions" concerning

them. Having obferved this, I go on.

The

$0 DISSERTATION 11.

The '^ ferpent" may be the objedt of the curfc
pronounced in the former of thefe verfes; though
the words are addreffed to the " devil," who aded
in him : and the " devil/' not the ferpent, his
inftrument in what had been done, may be aimed
at in the latter.

In the firft of thefe verfes, though Satan, who
was invifibly prefent in the body of the ferpent,
is the agent really fpoken to 3 yet the " ferpent/'
his inftrument only, may be the more immediate
obje6t of the curfe pronounced. As if it had been
faid, not mentioning the " devil," but the " fer-
pent," and hereby accommodating the language
to the ^'outward appearance," thou hafl: been in-
llrumental in drawing the man and the woman,
whom I had made, into an acl of open and dar-
ing rebellion againft my authority. As a token,
therefore, of my difpleafu re, and to guard againft
the like difobedience for the future, I degrade
you> the inftrument in this wickednefs, into an
inferior fort of creature. Like a low reptile, you
Ihali hereafter crawl upon your belly, and feed
upon the duft of the earth ; and thus it fhall be
with all that fliall derive their exiftence from
you.

There is no difficulty in fuppofing " fuch a de-
gradation," with refpect to the power of Al-
mighty God. He could as eafily, by fpeaking
only a word, alter the kind of any creature, as
give it at firft.

But it may feem ftrange, as the devil only was
" agent'* in the fedudion of Adam and Eve, the

ferpent

DISSERTATION IT; cji

ferpent being nothing more than the vifible fornn,
or material figure/ that he aduated 3 I fay, it
may feein ftrange, that the " ferpent," in this
cafe, fhould be treated as though lie had been
worthy of blame, when he really was not; or, in
other words, that he fhould be ^^ curfed" for do-
ing what he was naturally incapable of doing, and
was in fad wholly done by another; efpecially,
that he fliould be dealt with in fo fevere a man-
ner, being obliged to fuffer " a degradation of his
kind,"; infomuch that he, and all that fliould
proceed from him, fhould be groveling reptiles,
feeding upon duft.

This I readily acknowledge to be a difficulty,
and a great one too : nor is it capable of being
folved upon the fuppofition, that the ^' ferpeiit"
had " merited" the difpleafure of God, or that he
was reduced to this low flate as a " punifhment'*
for what he had done; for he was no " agent" in
the cafe, and had really done nothing. It ought
to be confidered in a quite different view. And
perhaps we may, by one or two fimilar inflances,
be led to conceive of it in a manner that will con-
fifl with the wifdom, juftice, and goodnefs of the
divine government.

It is laid, in ver. 23. of this chapter, that God
" curfed the ground." Not furcly on account
of its having deferved to be curfed ; for it was, in
the nature of the thing, incapable of fuch defert.
But he did this ^' for man's fake," that it might
be an occafion of '^ toil and forrow" to him, be-
caufe he had finned. And might he not as well

" curfe

9

2 DISSERTATION IL

^' curfe the ferpent ?" Not on account of any
thing he had done to deferve this curfe, but " for
man's fake" alfo, that it nnight be an occafion of
" benefit" to him, by putting hinn upon his guard
againfl fin for the future, as he would now have
before his eyes fuch a vifible teftimony of what
God would do in refentment of it. The evil
brought upon the ferpent might be, in a way of
difpenfation, for the good of man. The end in view
here, according to this interpretation, is the reverfe
of that intended by the '^ curfe" brought upon
the earth. And it is remarkable, the curfe of the
earth is fpoken of in that part of the hiftory, which
relates to the" punilliment" cf man; whereas
this is mentioned, where God is introduced as
opening his defign of " mercy" towards him.
What therefore is here reprefented as a " curfe"
either to the '^ ferpent," or the <' devil" ading in
him, ought to be looked upon as, in the fame
proportion, a " blefiing" to man.

In like manner, it was a law in Ifrael of God's
making, and promulging, that " if an ox gore
a man or a v/oman, that they die, the ox fhall be
furely ftoned, and his flefh fhall not be eaten."
Exod. xxi. 28. It will not be pretended, that the
ox was a moral agent, or that death could be in-
fii(5led on him as a " punilhment" on account of
what had happened. No; but the wifdom and
goodnefs of this law lay in this, that it was a pro-
per guard upon man's life, a reafonable provifion
for l^is fafety and fecurity. How ? Not from any
tendency it had to make other oxen afraid to gore
2 ^^^

DISSERTATION II.

93

men to death -, but as it was naturally fuited to
put the owners of them upon due care to guard
them againft doing this mifchief. The good of
men was the great aim of this law. And why
might not the " ferpent," upon the like g^ood
intention, though not for any " crime" he could
be charged with, be reduced to a lower ftate of
being ? He was incapable, it is owned, of this
degradation, in point of defert: but who can fay
it was not wife and fit, with regard to the fafety of
man ? He might, had not God thus dealt with
him, have been a creature adapted, in his nature,
to be far more mifchievous and hurtful to man-
kind, than he now is : or however this was, his
" degradation" in the prefence of Adam and Eve,
who thought it was he that had beguiled them into
fin, might, at lead, as to them, be a vifible ex-^
ample of the difpleafure of God, and ferve as a
" (landing memento" to put them upon their
guard againfl being again drawn afide by tempta-
tion. And to their " pofterity," who, by after
revelations, knew more of this matter than they
did, it might be of great ufe, as it obvioufly
points out the heinous nature of fin, and what
may be expected as the confequence of it, v/hen a
creature that was nothing more than an '^ inftru-
ment" aduated by another in tempting to the
commilTion of it^ was, in the righteous govern-
ment of God, for wife and good ends, degraded
into a lower kind of being.

This is all 1 am able to fay in folution of the
objedled difficulty. If any Ihould think it infuiri-

cienc,

94 DISSERTATION II.

clent:, I will lay before them, in a brief fummary
way, what Dr. Shuckford has offered, upon
another plan of interpretation, to fet this part of
the Mofaic hiftory in an eafy and unexceptionable
light.

Says he, the Hebrew particle, r/, rendered in
this place, " becaufe,'* might have been tranflated
*^ although.'* Several inftances, in illulirration of
this, he has brought to view; and feme others
might be added to them. Having obferved this,
he confiders this ver. 14. as an apoftrophe de-
livered to the ferpent in the prefence of Adam
and Eve, defigned to evince to them, what a
folly, as well as crime, they had been guilty of,
in being deceived by fo low a feducer. The
words are, as if God had faid to the ferpent ;
'^ although" thou haft done this great mifchicf,
*^ yet thou art no lofty and refpedable creature :
" Thou art one of the meaneft of all animals:
*• Thou art not raifed to any high form, but art
*' a mere reptile, and fhall always continue to be
*^ fo : upon thy belly thou art made to go, and
'^ (lialt feed low all the days of thy life in the
*f very duft. Adam and Eve had conceived high
" notions of the ferpent, ** above all the beads of
*' the field, which the Lord had made;" but God
" here reprehends their foolifh fancy, and fets be-
*' fore them, what their own eyes might have told
" them, that the ferpent was a creature, made
'' only for a very low life, and that no fuch ele-
"■ vation as they imagined could ever belong to
'' him."

I freely

DISSERTATION II. 95

I freely own, this would be the befl account
I have met with of the meaning of thefe words,
if it could be well reconciled with the form of
di6lion here ufed, " curfed art thou above all
cattle — upon thy belly fiialt thou go — and eat
duft." — One is naturally led, from this manner of
fpeaking, to think, that the ferpent was deprived
of fomething he before poflcfTed, and that the
" curfe" lay in this " deprivation." The Dr.
was fenfible of this difficulty, and in order to
guard againft it has faid, " to be <^ curfed," may be
" to have fome fignal mifchief or great evil,
*' either wifhed to, or inflided upon the perfon
" curfed. This indeed is the general fignification
'^ of the word. But it ought to be confidered,
'^ whether it is contrary to the nature of the He-
*^ brew tongue, to call a thing " curfed," when
" fuch circumllances belong to it as are fo ex-
" tremely bad, that it might be deemed as un-
«^ happy a thing, even as a rnoft fevere curfc, to
*' be under them, though they be not inflifled
*^ as a particular judgment. In this fenfe the
" Jews, in our Saviour's time, called their vul-
" gar or common people, who, they thought,
" could not know the law, ^' curfed."— It is no
*^ unnatural way of fpeaking, to fay of poor, bar-
" ren, and unprofitable land, that it is "curfed"
*^ ground, not only when God may have been
«f pleafed to make " fruitful land barren for the
<f wickednefs of them that dwell therein,'* as was
^' particularly the cafe of the earth " thus curfed,"
^' upon our firft parents having finned j but alfo

<^ when

9^ DISSERTATION II.

" when the land is very fterile and unfruitfuh
*' though no particular curfe of God has ever been
*^ denounced againft it. In the Hebrew tongue,
<' we often find things eminently excellent in
^* their kind, faid therefore to be of God ^ <^ Ce-
'< daj-s of Lebanon," highly flourilhing, to be for
^' that reafon of God's planting : fo^ on the con-
«' trary, the word " curfed" naay as reafonably be
'^ ufed, ns it v/cre in co a craft, where God had
*' given no appearance of a blefTjng. Adam and
<« Eve were thinking highly of the ferpent : the
*« defign of what God now faid, was to Ihew them
*« that he was a creature deferving their loweft
<« notice : They thought him above any beaft of
«^ the field which the Lord had made: The words
^f here fpoken were to tell them, that he v/as not
<« above, but beneath all others s fo creeping and
«' abjedt, that his make and form might be fpoken
<' of in terms, as if they were a " curfe'' upon
<^' him."

The reader is left to judge wherein, and how
far, the Dr. has removed this difficulty. "If he
has really done it, I know of no reafon why we
may not reft entirely fatisfied with the interpreta-
tion he has given us.

The words that follow, in ver. 15. '^ And I will
put enmity between thee and the woman, and be-
tween thy feed and her feed; it fiiall bruife thy
head, and thou fhalt bruife his heel :" Thefe
words, I fay, are a continuation of what God faid
to the " devil/' now prefent in the body of the
ferpent j and principally relate to his " total

over*

DISSERTATION II. 97

overthrow,'* as the " tempter" and <^ deftroyer"
of man, by " one" who fhould be of ** the feed
of the woman :" Though the mode of diflion,
conformably to that which had all along been
ufed before, is fuch, that neither Adam or Eve
may be thought to have had any other than alow
and imperfed conception of what was hereby
really meant.

Not that they had reafon from thefe words then,
or any of their pofterity fince, to imagine, that
the contefl, here fpoken of, between " the fer-
pent and his feed," and the " v/oman's feed," lay
in this, that ferpents would be apt to ** bite men's
heels, and men in return to break their heads.'*
It would be a dilhonour to Mofes's chara6ler>
confidered only as an hiftorian, to fuppofe he
could intend any thing fo low and ridiculous ;
efpecially, when writing upon matters of fuch in-
terefting importance. And it would equally re-
fled upon the underftandings of our firft parents,
to think them capable of taking his words in fo
contemptible a fenfe. If they did not, by this
time, begin to fufped, that fome fuperior agent
might have ufed the ferpent in the temptation by
which they were overcome; they, doubtlefs, un-
derftood what was now delivered by God as im-
porting, that there (hould be a contefl:, and viftory
thereupon, in relation to, and agreement with,
the main thing in view, their having been
*^ tempted" and " overcome" by the ferpent;
that is to fay, they muft have underfl:ood it as a
contefl: with the ferpent in his charader as a
H " tempter"

98 DISSERTATION 11.

'* tempter" and ^^ feducer," in which chara6lers
he fhould be conquered, as he had conquered
them.

h ought to be remembered here, thefe words
were directed to the '^ devil," invifibly prefent in
the ierpent, and not to Adam or Eve. There is
no neceffity therefore to fuppofe, that they under-
(tood, or that it was intended by God they fhould
underftand, the full meaning of them. It is true,
as they were uttered in their hearing, and with a
view, doubtlefs, to their receiving comfort from
ihem under their prefent guilty circumflances, it
may reafonably be expedted, they ihould fufii-
ciently underftand them for this purpofe. If
they underftood them only according to the con-
ception they may be fuppofed to have had then of
the ferpent, as one that had been the occafion of
great damage to them, they would naturally and
obvioufly have looked upon them as a kind pro-
vifion of God for their fecurity in time to come j
it being hereby engaged, that the power of the
ferpent, not fimply as fuch, but as a <^ tempter"
and ^'feducer," (hould be " deftroyed/' By what
*' feed of the woman" this fliould be done, or
when, or how, and after what manner, they had
perhaps no idea at all.

The real truth is, the words were a declaration
from God, fummarily, though obfcurely, pro-
mifing, or predidling, the *^ deflrudion" of the
devil, that is, his power, intereil, and kingdom,
notwithdanding what he had done, by '' one"
who Hiou'l' proceed from " the woman." Not

that

DISSERTATION 11. 99

that Adam or Eve underftood much of the thing
here promifed and predidted : Though thus much
we know they did underftand by it, that it was aa
inftance of the " divine favour" towards them j
and that their condition, on account of their fin,
would not be deplorably fatal, as they had reafon
to expe6l. For, in confequence of thefe words,
it became certain to them, that they fhould have
«^ feed ;" which could not have been the cafe, if
the " death threatened" had been, as it might
have been, immediately inflidled on them. It is '
accordingly obferved, in ver. 23. that Adam
*^ called his wife Eve, becaufe (he was the mo-
ther of all living."

Let it be only fuppofed^ as it all along is in the
Mofaic hiftory, that Adam and Eve were not as
yet fo far advanced in knowledge, but that they
apprehended it was the '* ferpent," fua virtute^
that was their tempter, and the whole account
willappear jufl: and natural. The remedy God
had provided for their help, in their lapfed con-
dition, is given in words adapted to the appear-
ance of things, and their conceptions of them :
nor is there any need tofuppofe, that they under-
flood, or that it was intended they fhould have
underftood, more than is literally contained in
them, confidered, as they ought to be, in con-
nexion with their guilty ftate, and the way in
which they were brought into it.

But this is no reafon why we, who are fa-
voured with after-revelation, may not know much
more of the meaning of thcfe words than they
?I 1 did

ICO DISSERTATION II.

did, or it was defigned by God that they fhould.
It is now plain to us, though it was not to thenn,
that the " devil" was the " agent," and the
" ferpent'* his " inflrument only" in the tempta-
tion by which fin entered into the world. It is
clear to us, though it was not to them, that
" wicked men" are the feed of the devil, as hav-
ing him for their father ^ and that there now is,
and all along has been, a " conteft between him
and his feed," and the " feed of the woman." It
is now evident to us, though they were ignorant
of it, that " Chriil" was the *^ feed of the wo-
man;" as being, according to the flefh, " made
of a woman," and born of her body. In fine, we
are at no lofs to fay, though they had not light
to fay it, that the " grand work" of Chrift, as
the ** feed of the woman," was to " deftroy the
devil," that is, his defign as the '^ tempter" of
men -, and that he has been, and now is, carrying
on this work, and will carry it on till it is com-
pleted : though he has, and will meet with op-
pofitioii herein from the " devil" and ^« his
leed."

In confequence of thefe advances in knowledge
beyond the firft man and woman, by being ac-
quainted with after and more explicit promifes
and predidions, together with the explanation of
them in their accompliihment by Chrift, we are
able, with a good degree of certainty, to fay,
that the devil, under the name of the ferpent he
actuated, is principally intended in the words

under

DISSfiRTATION II. loi

under confideration ; and that the " bruifing the
ferpent's head'* by the «' woman's feed" means,
in allufion to the method of killing ferpents by
flriking at their heads, the '' deflru^tion of the
devil/' by Jefus Chrift; not his being, but his
defign, his work and power, as the tempter and
deftroyer of men. We have, in fhort, fufiicienc
reafon to think, that the' plan of grace, the go-
fpel-fcheme of falvation, which has been fince
opened to the world, efpecially by the revelation
of Jefus Chrift and his Apoftles, was the real
truth here fummarily fpoken of. Not that Adam,
or his pofterity in former ages, faw thefe things in
the light we do, or that God intended they
fhould. Perhaps it would not have confifted with
the intermediate fteps in the accomplifhment of
this full promife, to have delivered it in a man-
ner fo explicit that thev might have thus under-
ftood it. But this is no argument, that it did not
really contain this meaning, or that we may not
be rationally and fully convinced that it did ;
confidering it in connexion with the fcheme of
providence, as it has fince been opened, more
efpecially in the revelation of God to his pro-
phets, his Son Jefus Chrift; and the apoftles, and
through them to us. We may, in confequence
of thefe advantages, be able very eafily and clearly
to perceive, that this was the real intention of
God in his promife, or predi6lion, in the hear-
ing of the tirft of our race, and that the words in
which it is delivered are not only capable of this
H 3 fenfe.

102 DISSERTATION II.

fenfe, but as obvioufly and fully exprefTive of it
as words fumrr.arily could be. And, in truth, it
is with me one of the ftrongefb evidences of the
divinity of the Scriptures, that this, and other
ancient promifes and predictions, are fo worded,
that the fcheme of falvation, as it has been gra-
dually unfolding till thefe laft days, is very ob-
vioufly, however comprehenfively, pointed out
in them ; infomuch, that a fober inquirer can
fcarce fail of perceiving, that one and the fame
fcheme has been in profecution from the days of
Adam : which fcheme, however dark to former
ages, is now, in the times of the gofpel, made
fuHiciently known to all men •, though the evi-
dence is not fo full as it probably will be, when
mankind are got ftill further into the accomplifh-
ment of the *^ grand purpofe of God," generally
declared in this original promife to Adam.

Indead of faying any thing farther to fhew,
that this 15th verfe, in the fenfe I have given it,
contains fummarily the gofpel plan of falvation
by Jefus Chrift, I would mention it as worthy of
particular notice, that the method here provided
for the relief of the firfl pair, and their after-
poflerity, againft the hurtful confequences of the
lapfe, was opened, though, at this time, in ob-
fcure and general terms only, before the " fen-
tence of condemnation'* was pronounced. God
did not fee fie to proceed againft man in a '^ judi-
cial*' way, till he had previoufly given himjuft
rcafon to hope, that he might, notwithftanding

this

DISSERTATION II. 103

this procefs, be rcinftated in his favour, and the
enjoyment of happinefs.

It is eafy to perceive, that the " judicial fen-
tence," which was '^ confequent'* upon this re-
medial grace, ought not to be underftood in a
fenfe that will render this " grace" null and void;
but fo as that they may harmonioufly coiififl: with
each other. And, in this view of the matter,
not only our firft parents, but their del cendants
alfo throughout all generations, mud be looked
on, notwithflanding the lapfe, and the '•' judi-
cial" proceeding of God upon it, as under a di-
vine eflablifliment of grace through ChriH:, in
confequence of which they may " live," though
they muft previoully die, and that " tor ever" in
the enjoyment of God's favour. A mod import-
ant and interefl'ng thought this I The apo'lle
Paul had it diredly in his view, when he favs,
** if through the offence of one, many be dead;
much more the grace of God, by one man Jefus
Chrifl, hath abounded to many, Rom. v. 15. And
again, yer. 18. '^ As by the offence of one, judg-
ment came upon all men to condemnation; even
fo, by the righteoufnefs of one, the free-gift came
upon all men to the juftification of life.'* He re-
fers likewife to this fame provifion of grace, when
he fpeaks of " the creature,*' the creature man
more efpecially, as '^ fubjed to vanity;" Rom,
viii. 20. but " in hope." Of what? It follows,
of being " delivered from the bondage of cor-
ruption into the glorious liberty of the children
H 4 of

104 DISSERTATION IL

of God.'* The foundation of this " hope" was
the '^ promifed feed of the wooian to bruife the
ferpent's head ;" which promife was made before
it pleafed God to '' fubjed the creature*' man to
that '^ vanity," which is here fpoken of. So that
neither the firfl man or woman, nor any of their
pofterity, are *' irreverfibly" under any doom of
God, on account of the firft fin ; but notwith-
{landing the utmoft that can be included in the
" pronounced fentence" againft Adam and Eve,
they are within the reach of God's favour, and
under a *^ revealed conftitution of mercy,'* con-
formably to which they may finally ** inherit eter-
nal life."

The way is now clear to confider the account
Mofes has given us of the " judicial" confe-
quences of the lapfe. And thefe are diftindlly
related, as they refpedl both the ^' man" and the
♦' woman."

The hiftory begins with the " woman," to
whom God "judicially" fays, ver. i6. " I will
greatly multiply thy forrow, and thy conception:
In forrow (halt thou bring forth children ; and
thy defire fhall be to thy hufband, and he Ihall
rule over thee." Thejuft import of thefe words
is fo well known to the female fex by unhappy
experience, that nothing need be faid in explana-
tion of them, or to fliew that the daughters of
Eve, in common with their mother, are deeply
concerned in them.

Only,

DISSERTATION II. xoj

Only, it may be proper for their comfort to
remark here, that women-kind may, upon the
plan of grace through Chrift, fo behave under
the forrows accompanying child-bearing, as to
make them turn out in the end an occafion of
falvation to them, according to thofe words of
the apoflle Paul, i Tim. ii. 15. Notwithftand-
ing, flie fhall be faved in child-bearings if they
continue in " faith, and charity, and holinefs
with fobriety.''

Dr. Taylor, in his note on Rom. vii. 5. In fup-
port of an unufual fenfe he had put upon the pre-
pofition ^iocy brings in this verfe as a parallel in-
flance. The apoftle's words are, Iu^o-etcci o's J^i^
rmvofovixg, that is, fays the Dodor, ^^ (he fhall be
faved ujider^ in the ftate of, or notwithftanding the
procreation of children ; or although Ibe be en-
gaged in the procreation of children, in oppofition
to a ftate of virginity." But he has, without all
doubt, mifunderftood the true force of the pre-
pofition J'ia, in this place, and herefrom given
an entirely wrongturn to the apoftle's thought. If
conftrued here, in its ufual and moft proper fenfe,
it will prefent us with a far more noble and fio-nj-.
ficant meaning. I fhould render the palTage thus
*^ Neverthelefs, fne ftiall be faved [in the full <>o-
fpel fenfe of the word] by or through child-bear-
ing ; that is, as the words that immediately fol-
low are, " if they continue in faith, charity, and
holinefs, with fobriety." \i is obfervable, " as
the woman was firft in the tranfgreftion," which

are

loS DISSERTATION 11.

are the immediately foregoing words, it is na-
tural to fuppofe the apollle might recur in his
thoughts to the " curfe" pronounced againlt the
*' woman" herefor, namely, " I will greatly
multiply thy forrow, and thy conception : In for-
row (halt thou bring forth children." Upon
■which he adds, " Neverthelefs, notwithftanding,
Ihe Ihall be faved, [in the full goJpei fenfe of the
word] i^yy through, tn confeguence of^ child-bearing j
if they continue in faith, &c." As if the apoflle
had ^aid, ^* h^r bearing of children," as to the
manner of it fince the lapfe, inftead of proving a
*« curfe," fhall be an '' occafion" of everlafting
falvation to her in heaven, if fhe does but make a
wife and good ufe of the forrows and dangers (he
is liable to pafs through in this circumftance of
life^ improving them as a means in order to her
continuing m faith, and a holy, fober condud of
herfclf in life. This text appears to me an in-,
fpired illuftration of the " way" or '* method*'
in which the " curfe upon woman-kind" may,
in confequence of the grace of God through Jefus
Chrifl:, by being improved wifely as a *^ difcipli-
nary trial," be turned into the greatefl: ^^ blefT-
ing," their falvation in the eternal world. To un^.
derftand by this *^ falvation," as Mr. Locke, Tay-
lor, and mod commentators do, *' being carried
fafely through the forrows and dangers of child^
bearing," appears to me to give it a compara-
tively low meaning. Befides, it ought to be re-
membered, it was not " death" in child-bearing

that

DISSERTATION II. 107

that the woman was fubje6led to, but only *^for-
row." Had it been "death," in the fame fenfe
in which it was forrow, there could not have
been a multiplication of the fpeciesj there was
therefore neither occafion, nor reafon, for the
apoflle's faying, " fhe fhall be faved," meaning
hereby, fhe fnould not in this way fee death.
Moreover, this meaning doth not confifl with the
conditional provifo that follows, ^^ if they con-
tinue in faith, and charity, and holinefs, with
fobriety." For it is true in fad, that " infidel"
and ^' vicious," as well as " believing" and
'* virtuous," women are, in this fenfe, " faved ia
child-bearing," and perhaps there is no vifible
diftindlion between the one and the other.

I may not improperly add here, though it
fhould be thought a little out of place, that the
" fufferings," of whatever kind, the human race
are fubjeded to in confequenceof the lapfe, may,
in the fame way, be made an " occafion" of fpi-
ritual and eternal good, by parity of reafon.
They are equally capable of being improved to
the purpofes of *' holinefs;" and, wherein they
are fo, they will equally turn to the " falvation"
of thofe, who make this wife and good ufe of
them. And, in truth, the fpecial work we are
called to in this world of forrow and death is, to
take occafion, from the evils wefuffer, to exhibit
a temper of mind, and behaviour in life, that
may be fuited to the circumftances in which God
|ias placed us. Our trial for another flace pro-
perly

io8 DISSERTATION IL

perly lies in the *' occafions" that are herefrom
given us for the acquirennent and exercife of
meeknefsj humility, faith, patience, content-
ment, and refignation to the pleafure of vhe all-
wife and rightecus Governor of the univcrfe.
And if, upon being tried, ir appears that we have
made this chriftian innprovemenc of the fufFerings
we have been called to pafs through, we (hall, in
the end, in fpite even of deaih itlclf, oi the mercy
oF God, through Jefus the Saviour, be crowned
wich eternal life.

The woman having received her *^ judicial
fentencc," God is now reprefented as pronouncing
the man's -, and he does it in the following
words:

Ver. 17. "AnduntoAdamhefaid, Becaufethou
haft hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and haft
eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, fay-
ing, thou (halt not eat of it: curfed is the ground
for thy fake -, in forrow (lialtthou eat of it all the
days of thy life/'

18. "Thorns alfo and thirties (hall it bring
forth to thee 5 and thou (halt eat the herb of the
field."

19. " In the fweat of thy face (halt thou eat
bread, till thou return to the ground : for out of
it waft thou taken 5 for duft thou art, and unta
duft thou (halt return."

The firft part of this fentence contains God's

" curfing the ground for man's fake;" that is,

A that

DISSERTATION II. 109

that it might be an occafion of *' toil and forrow
to him all his days," by its being fpontaneoufly
produdtive, not of proper food for him, but of
" thorns and thiftles," to increafe his labour, and
give him vexation and trouble.

Dr. Taylor, in his fcripture dodlrine of origi-
nal fin, calls upon us to obferve here, p. 19.
that, " though the ferpent is " curfed," and the
" ground is '* curfed," yet there is no " curfe'*
" upon the *' man,'* or the " woman." He re-
peats the fame remark again and again, in his fup-
plementj but furely upon infuiBcient confidera-
tion, p. 46 — 50. " Was the Lord difpleafed
ftgainft the ground ? Was he angry againft the
earth ?" Was the earth a capable objed of his re-
fentmeni ? What he now did, mcfb certainly ter-
minated on man : He was the objed in God's
view; and if there was any *^ curfe" in the cafe,
he was the *' perfon curfed." When it is faid to
the people of Ifrael, if they would not be obe-
dient, " curfed (liall be the fruit of thy land,**
Deut. xxviii. 15. 18. would anyone be led to
think, the land indeed was curfed, but no curfe
was hereby intended to fall on that people ? It
would be fhockingly abfurd to put fuch a con-
flrudion on the words ; but not lefs fo, in the text
before us; efpecially, as the *' man" is named,
and it is exprefsly faid, that it was "for his fake,'*
that is, on his account, in confideration of his
offence, and as a teflimony of the Divine dif-
pleafure againft it, that ^^ the earth was curfed,"

that

iio DISSERTATION IL

that is, made an '^ occafion" of toil and forrov; to

him all his days.

But fays the Dodlor, " forrow, labour, and

death, are not inflided under the notion of a

curfe," p. 19. And again, though thefe arc

" confequcnces of Adam's fin, they are really a

benefit," p. 2i, It is readily owned, in agreement

with v/hat has been before obferved, that thofe

«^ evils/' upon the foot of grace through Chrifl,

the promifed feed, are capable of being improved

fo ss to turn out in the end for good. And fo

are all the judgments of God wherewith he vifits

the fins of men. But do thofe teftimonies of his

vengeance lofe their nature as "judgments" on

his parr, and " real evils" on theirs, becaufe they

may be an " occafion" of that repentance which

(hall iiTue in falvation? When God threatened the

Jewifli nation, in cafe they would not do his

commandments, with famine, the peltilence, the

fword, and a difperfion into all parts of the earth,

did he threaten them with a benefit ? And when

thofe threatnings were for their fins carried into

execution, did he inflid a blefling on them ? When

he threatened, in particular, that, if they were

difobedient, " they fhould be curfed in the field,"

Deut. xxviii. 16. did he hereby intend that the

«« field flionld be curfed," but that he meant

thereby a " real benefit" to them ? This is what

the Do£lor fays, not virtually and conflrudtively,

but in dired words, in however ftrange a light it

may make the Scripture appear.

Bcfides

' DISSERTATION ll. iti

Befides what has been already faid, it ought to
be remembered, God was now denouncing againft
man that '^judgment to condemnation," which,
in its confequences, has deeply affe(5led the whole
' human race \ rendering their life on earth, a life
•of toil, trouble, and forrow. And fhall this be
thought a '* condemnation to a blefTing ?" Can
it reafonably be looked upon in this light ? When
God faid to Adam, " in the day thou eateft there-
of, thou fhalt furely die j" did he mean to guard
him againft difobedience by threatening him with
a benefit ? And yet, this he muft have m.eanr, if
the " judgment" that faftened on him the ap-
pendages, forerunners, and occafions of death,
was a condemnation to a benefit. The Scripture,
no where fpeaks any thing like this \ but always
confidcrs the matter under the notion of a *' con-
demnation'* to that which was in itfelf a " real
and great evil." And this it might be, though
we allow, at the fame time, that it was capable,
of the mercy of God through Chrid, of being an
" occafion" of good in the end.

The undoubted truth is, this '^ curie of the
ground," in confequence of which man became
fubjedled to a life of toil and forrow, till he fhould
return to duft, was a ^' judicial" teftimony of
God's difpleafure againft the fin he had commit-
ted ; and ought therefore to be confidered as a
«^ curfe" that terminated on '' him," and not on
the ground, which was dead and unperceptive
matter. This is the idea obvioufly and certainly

con^

112 DISSERTATION 11.

conveyed to us by what Mofes has faid. It would
be to make him fpeak in a manner never before
heard of, to fuppofe he was telling us, that, upon
man's fin, and God's condemning him for it, he
was really *^ blefiing" him, by infiidting on him
that which was greatly to his advantage.

The '' earth*' then was" curfed" by God "for
man's fake i" or, as a " curfe to him," by being
fitted to be an occafion of thofe " labours and for-
rows," which would fubjedl him to a date of fuf-
fering all his days.

It is an obvious deduction from hence| that
the ** earth," by being " curfed," mufl have
pafTed under fome confiderable change for the
worfe. It could not become a means of " toil,
forrow, and vanity" to man, if it had not been
changed into a (late very different from that it was
in before his fail -, that is, a ftate lefs fitted to
give him pleafure, and m.ore adapted to yield him
pain and grief. Had the original fbate of the
earth been what it is at prefent, there would have
been no need of a '« curfe" from God, in order to
its *' bringing forth thorns and thiflles," that it
might be an occafion of toil and trouble. And
as the earth was *^ curfed" by God upon this ex-
prefs defign, that it might be adapted to be the
produ6live caufe of labour and grief, it muft fol-
low from hence, that its condition before the
lapfe was not the fame it has been fince. If it
was, what intelligible meaning can be put upon
the curfe ?

It

DISSERTATION II. n^

It is the truth of fa(5b, that the conftitution of
the earth is now fuch, fo fitted to be the occa-
fional caufe of "toil and forrow'' in innumerable
ways and kinds, that there is no fuch thing as
living in the world, but under fuffering circum-
ftances, in a lefs or greater degree. And was this
the ftate of the earth when God created the firft
of our race ? Mofes declares the contrary ; afcrib-
ing it to their '^ fin/* and the " curfe" thereby
brought upon the earth, that it has been fo
changed as to be the occafion of their '* labour
and forrow." And the Scripture, in other places,
gives us the fame account. The apoftle Paul
declares, that^' the creature," Rom. viii. 20. emi-
nently the creature man, " was made fubjed to
vanity \ not willingly, but by reafon of him who
fubjedled him ;" that is, in confequence of the
*^ curfe," which altered the earth fnom what ic was
in its former ftate. So, when the apoftle John
fays, in his defcription of the happy ftate of good
men in the refurredlion-world, that ^' there ftiall
be no curfe there," Rev. xxii. 3. the propriety of
his remark is evidently grounded on thofe occa-
fions of forrow, mankind at prefent are fubjedled
to, by reafon of the " curfe'* that is on the earth :
and if the *' curfe" had not made a vaft change
in the earth for the worfe, how fhall we account
for thofe pafTages in the facred books, which
fpeak of the ftate of good men in the other
world, under the emblem of a '^ paradifaic'* one?
Our Saviour faid to the thief on the crofs, " This
I day

114 DISSERTATION 11.

day (halt thou be with me in paradife.'* The
apoflle Paul fays of himfelf, " I was caught up to
paradife." And in the book of the Revelations,
the promife ** to him that overcometh," is, " he
fhall eat of the tree of life in the midft of the pa-
radife of God." The happy flate defcribed in
thefe texts, under the refemblance of" paradife,"
is much greater than can be enjoyed on this
earth, as it is nowconftituted; and confequently,
the "ancient paradife," from whence the allufion
is borrowed, mufl have been greatly different
from our earth in its prefent condition. The
*' ancient paradife," it is true, was a particular
fpot of the earth, feleded by God for the habita-
tion of man in innocency; but there is no reafon
to think, there was any effential difference be-
tween this fpot of the earth, and the earth in com-
mon. To be fure, if the reft of the earth, in that
day, was fimilar to the earth in this, a " curfe"
from God, in order to its being an occafion of
" labour and forrow," was quite needlefs: merely
an expulfion from " paradife" would, in this cafe,
have anfwered all the ends of the " curfe." So
that it Ihould feem a point beyond all reafonable
controverfy, that this earth of our*s, by reafon of
the " curfe" upon it for Adam*s fin, is fo changed
from what it was before, as to be adapted to give
rife to that" toil and trouble," which man has ever
fince been fubjedled to.

Mr. Whifton, in his theory of the earth, fup-
pofes, and very probably, as I imagine, that the

external

DISSERTATION II. 115

external (late of nature was quite different " be-
fore" the fall, from what it has been " unce :"
that the feafons were then equable, or gently
and gradually diftinguifhed fronn each other,
without thofe extremes of heat and cold, and fud-
den changes- of them from one to the other we
are now fubjecfled to, and to our great difad van-
tage : that the earth was better adapted then to
the purpofes of vegetation; producing manyfpe-
cies of trees, plants, herbs, and flowers, we know-
nothing of at prefent J advancing thofe we are flili
acquainted with to a far more noble degree of
perfedion ; and not invigorating the feeds which
now grow into thorns and thiftles, or tlCc meli-
orating their juices fo as to alter their nature from
what it is now, and in this way rendering that
" toil" needlefs which is occafioned by them :
That the air was clear, pure, fubtie, tranfparent,
and perfedtly fitted for refpiratioh, and its other
ufes, whether in the animal or vesjetable kins-
dom, without thofe grofs fleams, exhalations,
and heterogeneous mixtures of various kinds,
which are the occafion of numberlefs pernicious
and fatal effedls, which take place, either fenfibly
or infenfibly, in our prefent world 3 and, in a
word, that the conflitution of things was then
fuch, as naturally tended, conformably to fettled
connexions, to make this earth a " paradifaic"
one, in oppofition to that " vanity, toil, and for-
row," ending in ^^ death,'* the «* curfe" has fince
adapted it to be an occafion of to all its inhabit-
I 2 ar.rs*

ii6 DISSERTATION IL

ants, in confequence of the lapfe of the one man
Adam.

I will not affirm, that the " mechanical caufes"
affigned by this learned theorift for the differ-
ent ftate of things " before" and " fince" the
fall, are thofe God was pleafed, in fa6t, to co-
operate with, in order to their production ; but
this I will venture to fay, that the ftate of things
he has reprefented, as what might be owing to
thefe " caufes,'* is both intelligible, and credible,
upon the ftridlefl philofophical reafoning ; and
that \ve have therefrom a jufl account, how the
*^ curfe," the Scripture fpeaks of, might come
upon the earth in confequence of the fin of the
firft parents of men, and change it from its
former ftate, making it, in the natural courfe of
things, the occafion of that *' vanity, toil, and
forrow/' we are now fubjedted to, and fo earn ellly
groan to be delivered from.

And that the " earth" has been really " thus
changed," to whatever caufe it is attributed,
whether the immediate power of God, or his
power concurring with fecond caufes, is, as we
have feen above, the plain meaning of what Mofes
has faid in his hiftory of the fall. And the fup-
pofition of fuch a " change" in the ftate of na-
ture, will beft account for what we meet with, de-
fcriptive of a former *' golden- age," in pagan
writers, who lived in different parts of the world.
See the teftimonies produced to this purpofe by
Mr. Whifton, and Dr. Burnett, in their theories

of

DISSERTATION 11. 117

of the earth J as alfo what has been more largely
offered upon this head by the author of Cyrus, in
his principles of natural and revealed religion. It
is not eafy to conceive, how the notion of a
fornner " golden-age," fo agreeable in the main
to the idea we are naturally led, from the Mofaic
flory, to form of the ^^ paradifaic" ftate of the
earth, Ihould fo generally prevail in fo many dif-
ferent parts of the world, unlefs there had been
fome foundation for it in the truth of fad. In
this cafe, it might have been handed down by
tradition from the beginning ; and the tradition,
upon this point, would perhaps have been more
particular and perfed:, had it not been for thofe
" conflagrations of books" which have happen-
ed, at one time and another, to the great regret
of all lovers, efpecially of ancient learning.

The other part of the " judicial fentence" pafT-
ed upon the '* man" is, *' duft thou art, and unto
dufl thou fhalt return." The thing meant, to
fpeak concifely and plainly, is this, that he fhouid
f' die," as it was " threatened" he fhouid, if hq
was difobedient to the voice of God.

But the important queftion is. What are we to
underftand by this ** death .^"

To which I would fay, there is no warrant, as
it appears to me, from any thing Mofes has re-
lated, to include more in its meaning, than the
lofs of that life, with the whole enjoyment de-
pendent on it, which he had jult reci;ived from
God, and would not have been deprived of, had
I 3 he

ti8 DISSERTATION IL

he abflained from eating of the forbidden tree.^
This, as I apprehend, is the fenfe in which the
word *' death'* is to be taken in the ** original
threatening." This is its fenfe, as explained and
illuftrated in the *^ fentence of condemnation." —
And this is its fenfe alfo, when this fentence is
fpoken of as " carried into execution.'* That we
may the more readily take in a clear idea of what
may be offered upon this interefling matter, let
it be obferved.

The body of man, though formed by the wif-
dom of God out of the dull of the ground " into
a curioufly organifed figure, was (till, dead, fenfe-
lefs, inadive matter, till it pleafed God to infpire
it with " life." So the account runs, Gen. ii. 9.
*^ And the Lord God formed man of the duft of
the ground, and breathed into his noftrils the
breath of lifej and man became a living foul."
"Whether we underftand, by God's *' breathing
into man the breath of life," the infufion of what
we call the '^ foul," or " fpirit,'* or whatever clfe
can be fuppofed to be intended by it, it was this
difplay of divine power that gave him '^ life,"
that is, conftituted him a being capable of com-
munication with the world he had made in away
of perception and enjoyment. It is accordingly
added in the words that immediately follow,
ver. 8, 9. " And the Lord God planted a garden
callward in Eden, and there put he the man whom
he had formed. And out of the ground made
the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleafant

to

DISSERTATION II. 119

to the fight, and good for food : the tree of life
alfo in the midft of the garden, and the tree of
knowledge of good and evil." The nieaning is,
God having made man, in the manner above de-
fcribed, a " living foul," a confcious perceptive
creature, capable of enjoyment from the world
he had created, took care to make fuitable pro-
vifion therefor. Now, when it is faid, in the
fame continued narrative, that God declared to
Adam " he fhould furely die/' if he " eat" of a
certain " tree in the garden," mentioned by
name, what more naturally and obvioufly prefents
itfelf to the mind, as the thought intended to be
conveyed, than this, that he fhould no longer
exift a perceptive being in the world he was placed
in, for that he fhould have taken from him that
" breath of life" which made him a " living
foul." What other idea could Adam have
formed of this threatening ? In what other fenfe
could he poflibly have underflood it ? The
" death" here fpoken of, is evidently the " op-
pofite" to the " life" that had been given * j and

means

* Some are pleafed to fay, as by " life" the Scripture often
means ** a Hate of hapoinefs," and by " death,'* its oppofite,
a ** ftate of mifery ;'* this may reafoqably he looked on as the
fenfe in whxh the words are here uft^d bv Mole:;. As if it had
been faid, if thou obeyeft, thou (halt be completely and eternally
happy ; but if thou difobcyett, thou (halt be as compietely and
eternally miferable. The anfwer is obvious, whenever the
words, ** lite" and ** death,'* are ufed to fignify a ftate of hap-
pinefs and mifery, they are thus ufed ia a figurative fenle. not
I 4. according

lao DISSERTATION II.

means a deprivation of this life. When God in-
fpired Adam with life, he put into his body,

which

according to their natural and literal meaning. And further,
the propriety even of this figurative ufe of the words iseiTontialiy
grounded on the previous fuppofition of " life,** literally and
llridly fpeakiog, without which there could be no perception,
and confcquently no fuch thing as either happicefs or mifery.
To apply this to the cafe before us ; if Adam had been obedient,
his life, it is acknowledged, would have been continued without
end, and confequently his capacity for being happy ; for which
reafon he would, as I fuppofe, have been fo for ever. But, as
hediLbc>ed his creator, he forfeited all right to this conti-
nuance of life, which was indeed the grant of God only upon
condition of his obedience in the article wherein he was tried.
How then could he have livedfor ever, without which he could
J!ot have fuiFered mifery for ever. Was " life, continued for
ever," fuppojtd in the *' death" with which he was threatened ?
Tiiuo it mull have been ; otherwife, no figure, no metaphor, no
mode of didion, could make it fignify a ftate of eternal mifery ;
becaufc, wiihout 'Mife,*' there would have been no capacity in
his nature for the enduring this mifery. But how could Adam
have imagined, that, by ** dying," he (hould " live for ever,"
that he might be capable of fuffering for ever .? In what way
Hionld he have been led into fo llrange a thought ?

It Will be faid, he might have known, that he fhould have
gone on perpetually living as to his ** foul," or *' fpirit," though
his body, by being feparated from it, would have returned to
ferifelefb dull; and if he knew, that he Ihould have perpetually
lived as to his foul, what could bethink, or exped, but that it
would have been a life of perpetual mifery ? The reply is, How
Ihould A jam come by this pretei.dcd knowledge? furely, not
from any redfoning power he was endowed with. For however
jnd'flcluble he might have argued his foul to have been, in op-
pcfition to any inherent principles that could naturally have
L;o ghi on a diffolution, it was abfolutely dependent on the will
pf God, whether it fhould continue at all a confcious living fub-

llance

DISSERTATION II. 121

which was made of duft, a certain power, or
principle, call it what you will, in confequence

of

fiance after its difunion from the body, or how long or In what
way, or in what degree. And I am pretty fure, he could have
known the will of God, in this matter, in no way but that of
revelation. And where are we told it was revealed to him, that
he (hould have continued to all eternity a living confcious aftive
being ? Noihing of this nature is faid any where, thati can find,
in the facred books ; much lefs is it any where declared, that he
Ihould have lived, as to his ** naked foul," fufFering torment for
ever. And, in truth, had it been the intention of God, that
he ihould, for his one ofFence, have lived eternally in a fufl^ering
ftate, why was he fo plainly and folemnly told, that " he ihould
die?" What conceivable reafon could there be for the ** threaten-
ing of death,'* upon this fuppofition ? It might rather have been
expelled, that his " body" iliould have been made *' immortal,"
that he might have fuiFered, as an human creature, in that body
in which he had finned. And this way of fufFering, it ihould be
particularly remembered, is the only one that falls in with the
•* oppofition" upon which the fufFering pleaded for is grounded.
The happinefs engaged to Adam, upon his obedience, was hap-
pincfsina "body animated by the breath of life;'* the mifery
threatened ought therefore to be mifery in the ** fame body
adluated by the fame breath of life,**and not as endured by this
breath of life in a " naked feparated ftate.** This would bean
imperfed *' oppofition,*' and an arbitrarily made one too.

It mav be worthy of fpecial notice here, the proper *' wages
of fin" to all wicked men fince the lapfe, is mifery in their
*' bodies enlivened and aduated by the breath of life.** It is
accordingly one of the grand revealed truths of God, that they
Ihall all be ^' raifed from death to life," that they may be the
capable fiibjeds of thio mifery. Chrid, the appointed judge of
men, will not bid the wicked *' go away into the fire prepared
for the devil and his angels,'* till he has firlt eftablifhed a rela-
tion, connexion, union, or whatever elfe any may pleafe to call
it, between their *' bodic?," and an *' animating principle of

life."

122 DISSERTATION II.

of which he became a confcious perceptive being,
capable of afling in the body to the purpofes for
which he was fent into the world. The con-
tinuance of this life is the continuance of this ani-,

life.'' And from hence it follows, that the " death" fpoken of
in the facred books as the punifliment that (hall be inflidled on
wicked men, as*' the wages of their fin," cannot mean the fame
thing with that *• death" Adam was liable to upon his difobe-
ditncci unlefs it be ridiculoufly fuppofed, that the '*refurre6lion'*
of Adam to life after death, was included in the death with
which he was threatened.

Should it be flill faid, there are fome Scripture pafTages, cfpe-
cially in the New Teftament, which fpeak of good men, on the
one hand, as capable of enjoying happinefs in their *' fouls" after
death ; and of wicked men, on the other, as equally capable of
fufTering mifery; and that this was the truth of the cafe refpc6l-
ing the firll man Adam. I would briefly anfwer, whatever
•Mife," and capacity therefrom of enjoying good, or fufFering
evil, there may have been after " death" fincc the lapfe, is
wholly owing to that ** new plan of God," which is fummarily
reprefented in the promife of *' the woman's feed to bruife the
ferpent's head." It is upon this plan, the do61rine of a ** refur-
redion from death to life" is grounded ; and it is, as I imagine,
upon the fame plan, that theanimnting living principle in man,
whatever it is, retains its confcioufnefs and adivity after death,
if this is really the cafe, as feems to be the purport of the texts
referred to above. And the Jatter is as eafily to be conceived of
as the former, and may poilibly be well adapted to anfwer like
good and valuable ends in the all-wife righteous governniert of
God. The " fcul," whatever it is fjppofed to be, neither is,
nor can he, ** iirmortal" any more than the body, but in fub-
ferviency to the fovereign pleafure of God. And his pleafure,
upon this her.d, is nowhere fignified bat in the Bible, and upon
the fcheme of government founded in Chriil, Separate from
this, there is, fo far as I am able to judge, no hope after death
in refped of what we call the ** foul," any more than in regard
of the body.

niating

DISSERTATION II. 125

mating perceptive principle in the body; and its
ceafing to be any more this adlive animating prin*
ciple in the body, gives the true and proper notion
of death. This accordingly is the thing meant by
the ^' death" with which Adam was threatened. It
was, that he iliould lofe that principle which ani-
mated his body, and made him capable of percep-
tion and enjoyment; infomuch, that he fhould be
the fame fenfelefs matter he was before God breath-
ed into him the breath of life. It is not eafily con-
ceivable howAdam could have thought of death in
any other light : neither can we, if, difengaging
ourfelves from all previous biafles, we keep to
the fingle force of the word as ufed by Mofes.

And we fliall have confirmed reafon to under-
ftand the word *' death" in this fenfe, if we turn
our attention to the "judicial fentence," which
God paffed upon Adam in confequence of his
lapfe. It runs in that ftrain. Gen. iii. 19. *^ till
thou return to the ground ; for out of it waft thou
taken : for duft thou art, and unto dull thou fhalt
return." None will deny, that thefe words bear
an evident reference to the before recited account
of man's formation, and confcquently, when it is
here declared. Gen. ii. 19. that '« he fhould re-
turn to duft out of which he was taken," we are
diredly led to conceive of his puniftiment as con-
fifting in this, namely, " his redudlion to unor-
ganifed unanimated duft," or, in other words,
^' his ceafing to be that living creature" God had
made him, and becoming as incapable of per-
ception

124 DISSERTATION .II.

ception ^s he was before his organifed dull was
animated with a principle of life.

The idea we have given of this " death" is far-
ther ftrengthened fro.n the ^' execution" of the
original fentence upon our firfl: father. The ac-
count we have of it is in thefe words, Gen. v, 5.
'f all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred
and thirty years, and he died j" that is, a period
was put to his exigence as a perceptive being on
the earth, and therein he fuffered the punilhment
which the law had threatened,, and his righteous
Judge, in confequence of his lapfe, had con-
demned him to. The *' death" he is here faid to
have fuffered, is plainly oppofed to the " life" he
he had enjoyed, which was a life here on earth :
confequently, there is no reafon to think, that any
more is meant by this *' death" than the " priva-
tion of that life he had, for many years, been in
poffeOlon of."

It may add fome weight to what has been above
argued, if it be obferved yet further, that the
/* deltru6lion of life here on earth" was the only
thing the Jews, for whofe inftrudion the hiftory
of the fall v/as more immediately wrote, could
underftand by this word " death." For though
it is very frequently ufed by Mofes, and as ftand-
ing to denote a " threatened penalty," yet it
never fignifies more than *' a period to the prefent
life." The texts to this purpofe are very nume-
rous. Thus, when Abimelech gave it in charge,
iiaying, Gen. xxvi. 2, " he that toucheth this man,

or

DISSERTATION II. 12s

or his wife, fhall furely be put to dearh ;" the
words, in the original, are the fame as in the
fan6lion which guarded the law given to Adam in
paradife. So in Exod. xxi. 12. 15, 16, 17, where
it is ordained, that the perfons guilty of the
crinaes there fpecified, " fliall furely die," the
original words are ftill the fame^ as alfo in Levir.
XX. 2. 9, ID, II, 12, 13. 15. and in other places, ai-
med beyond number ; in all which places, the
*^ death" threatened, is that punifhment which
was to be inflidled by the civil magiftrate, and
therefore can mean nothing more than *^ the iofs
of life here on earth j" for the power of man is
confined within thofe limits. How then Ihould
the Jews underftand, by the original threatening,
any more than " the deftruflion of that life which
vvas at prefent enjoyed ?*' This is the meaning of
the word *^ death" clfewhere in the writings of
Mofes ; and from hence they mud have been led
to conclude, when it was told Adam, " he fhould
die," if he eat of the forbidden treej that the
thing meant was, that he fhould ceafe to continue
*^ a living creature." And more than this we have
no warrant from Mofes, or any other of the facred
writers, to include in the primitive threatening,
exprefled in thefe words, ^' thou fhalt furely die."
The plain truth is, man is a compound of
*^ organifed matter," and an ^* animating prin-
ciple of lifei" that is, he is conftituted of v/hat
we call a " body," and a ^' foul :" between which
, there is foclofc and intimate a relation, union, or
2 con-

126 DISSERTATION If.

connexion, that the body is a mere ufelefs m^-^
chine, only as it is aduated by the foul ; neither
can the foul, confornnably to the prefcnt Jaws of
nature, exert itfelf but by the body as its inftru-
ment. This is our frame. Thus we are con-
flituted living agents, beings capable of percep-
tion in the world God has placed us in. Now
*^ death" is the deftrudion — of what ? Not of the
exiftence either of foul or body -, but of the " re-
lation" there is between them, and their " fub-
fervient fitnefs" to influence each other to the
purpofes of life ; or, in other words, " death" is
the deilirudlion of that " mode of exiftence" with
which, in conformity to fettled laws, perception
and life are conne6ted by the God of nature.
And " this deftru6lion" is the thing meant in
the law given to Adam, and 'tis the utmoft it can
reafonably be explained to mean.

The " foul," it is true, or, what I mean here-
by, the " animating principle" in man, being, as
I fuppofe, a fpiritual immaterial fubftance, re-
mains " undiffolved" after its difunion from the
body ; but it may ftill, in virtue of this difunion,
be unfitted for thofe exertions wherein confift the
idea, and benefit of life. Some " fpecial mode
of exiftence" may be neceffary even for *^ fpirits,"
at leaft fuch fpirits as our's are, in order to their
being in a ftate of " adluai" life. Perhaps the
foul, though it is immaterial and indiflblubte,
may be fo afiedled in its "manner of exiftence"

by

DISSERTATION 11. 1^7

by death, as to be hereby as truly difqna-
lified as the body, though not in the fame
way, for the proper fundions and operations o^
life. And had it not been for the *' promife
through Chrili/' which took place immediatel/
after the lapfe, the foul would have exifted in its
feparate flate without "actual" life, as truly as
the body, though in a different way. Neither
Mofes, nor any of the infpired writers, do teach
us to think otherwife of the matter.

Thus much, indeed, we are certainly taught, if
not by Mofes, yet by fome of the other facred
penmen, that both " foul" and " body," notwith-
flanding " death," the penalty of the law put
into execution according to its full meaning, are
flill capable of being again related to each other,
and of becoming the "fame percipient indivi-
duals" they were before the inflitflion of death.
It is upon this " capacity" that the " gofpel
fcheme of redemption" is eflentially grounded.
It docs not {ct afide the threatened death, in re-
gard of any one thing included in itj but fup-
pofes its full execution, conformably to the true
meaning of the law, and takes place in confe-
quence thereof. " Death,'' whatever the Scripc-
ture means by it, whether refpecfling the foul
or body, is actually inflifled upon every foil
and daughter of Adam ? nor do any of them
partake of that " reftoration" which is oppofed to
this death, till they have really fufrcrcd it. And

t'uis

128 DISSERTATION II.

this is a ftrong confirmation of the idea we have
given of death, the fandion of the law man was
originally under, viz. that it means nothing more
than the deftruflion of that " mode of exiftence/'
with which life is connedled by the eftablilhment
of God. In this view of the matter, it is eafy to
conceive how thofe who fuffer death, may, by
the wifdom and power of God, be brought back
again to life. Nothing more is necefifary in order
to it, but their being reftored to their formtr mode
of exijience, or to one analogous to it ; which,
perhaps,'is the precife idea of the Scripture-rctur-
region.

[ 129 ]

DISSERTATION III.

Of the Pojlerity of the one man Adam^ as
deriving exijience from him^ not in his

INNOCENT, but LAPSED fate.

IT is an undlfputed truth, among thofe who
have faith in the Scriptures as a revelation
from God, not only that the human race de-
fcended from Adam as their firfl progenitor, but
that exiftence was communicated to them in his
i^APSED (late; in confequcnce of which they have
all along been, now are, and in all coming gene*
rations will be, fubje6led to a variety of evils,
grievous in their nature, and abfolutely unavoid-
able, by the all-wife, righteous, and holy appoint-
ment of God.

What thefe are, we can learn from the Sacred
Books only; to which, therefore, v/e mu ft repair,
if we would know, with any degree of certainty,
wherein, and in what fenfe, we are fufferers by
means of the offence of the one man, our com-
mon father.

The apoflle Paul is, of all the facred writers,

the moft explicit, and particular, in fpeaking of

K the

130 DISSERTATION III.

the ORIGINAL LAPSE, and of its confequences as
extending to the whole human kind. No one can
read his Epiftles, and not at once perceive, that,
in his view, the gofpel fcheme of mercy (lands in
clofe connexion with the unhappy ftate mankind
univerfally are brought into, by means of the lapfe
of our firft progenitor. No intelligible meaning
can be put upon the following paflages in his
Epiftle to the Corinthians and the Romans, upon
any other fuppofition : '^ Since by man came
death, by man alfo came the refurredion from
the dead. For as in Adam all die, even fo in
Chrifl: fhall all be made alive. By one man, fin
entered into the world, and death by fin ; and
fo death hath pafied upon all men, for that all
men have Gnned. As by the offence of one, judg-
ment came upon all men to condemnation ; even
fo, by the righteoufnefs of one, the free gift
came upon all men to the juftification of life."

The cornmentators, and other writers, I have
had opportunity to confult, have evidently taken
cither too much, or too little, into his meaning,
in what he has faid with reference to our partici-
pation in Adam's lapfe -, and by this means, they
have all, in their turns, as it appears to me,
made him fpeak, either abfurdly, or, at beft, lefs
clearly and pertinently, than they might otherwife
have done.

Thofe who interpret him, when he fays, that^
^' by the difobedience of one," the one man
Adam^ " niany were made finners," as defigning

to

DISSERTATION III. 131

to fugged:, that his fault was made theirs, or
that they really sinned when he eat of the for-
bidden tree, do, without all doijbt, apply a fenfe
to his words that is grofsly abfurd; may I not fay,
impoffible to be true ? For fin, which is a moral
irregularity, (lands in necelTary connexion with
the agent who commits it, and mull therefore,
in the nature of things, be personal. One man
may be a sufferer, in confequence of the fin of
another i but one man cannot be guilty of ano-
ther man's fin. Sin, as it eflentially fuppofes
moral agsncyy is, at all times, and in all worlds,
confined to the agent that omits fome action he
Ihould have done, or does one he fliould not have
done; and cannot be transferred, any more than
moral agency itfelf. There can be no reafonable
room, one would think, for difpute upon this
head, where common fenfe is allowed its proper
exercife. Nay, even in the cafe of a legal re-
presentative, who a(5ls in the behalf of others,
the adl of the reprefentative, morally confidered,
is personal. The confequences of it only, whe-
ther good or bad, extend to thofe he reprefents.
So that, fliould it be even allowed, that Adam
was the constituted representative of his
pofterity, it would not follow herefrom, that they
vitrt guilty of his fin j but only that they might
be fufferers in confequence of it.

Thofe alfo who reprefent the apofile Paul to

have taught, that mankind come into exiftencc

morally corrupt creatures, as having derived

K 2 from

132 DISSERTATION III.

from their firft father a pofitively sinful nature,
are equally miflaken in the fenfe they put upon
his words. For Adam was no more than the me-
dium, or inftrument, by or through whom God
communicated to men the nature they have, fimply
as it comes from him ; for which reafon, it (hould
feem an impoflibility, that it ihould be sinful;
becaufe it is precifely, as derived to them, that
nature^ which God, through Adam, conveyed to
them, without the intervention of any agency of
their own. '

It is true, they may come into being with ani-
mal tendencies, which may prove the occafion of
their finning themfelves ; yea, they may have thefe
tendencies in fuch a degree, as that the danger
may be great, exceeding great, left they fhould
hereby be enticed, and drawn afide; nay, further,
thefe animal tendencies may be converted into
SINFUL PRINCIPLES of afbion, as indeed, God
knows, they too often are in fad. But as they
cxift in our confticution, upon our firft entrance
into the world, it cannot be thought they fliould
be MORALLY corrupt, bccaufc they are fuch,
and only fuch, as the great Creator was pleafed
to give us, previous to any agency of our own.

On the other hand, thofe who fpeak of man-
kind as fubjecfled indeed to mortality y by means of
Adam's lapfe, but ftill deriving from him the like
perfe^ion of nature which he had v/hile innocent,
alike fitting them for a life of conformity to the law
of God i I fay, thofe who exhibit fuch an account of

DISSERTATION III. 133

the conflitution of human nature fince the lapfe,
do as evidently put a wrong fenfe on the apoftlc
Paul's writings; lofing fight of that grace which
he defigns to exalt, at leafl, in one of its eminent
branches, and putting it out of their power to give
that force to his reafoning, in many places, which
it jullly carries with it.

Two things, with refpedl to the (late of man-
kind, fince the lapfe of the one man Adam, and
in confequence of it, appear very obvious to an
attentive unprejudiced mind, upon reading the
New Teftament books, efpecially the Epiftles of
St. Paul. One relates to their fubjedion univer-
fally to a life of vanity and forrowy ending in death.
The others, to fuch imperfection of nature as
renders it impofllble, upon the foot of mere law,
that they Ihould attain to a righteoufnefs that
could avail to their juftification before God. The
eight firft chapters of the Epiflle to the Romans
are efl!entially grounded on this reprefentation of
the ftate of Adam's pofterity fince the lapfe. The
thread of reafoning is not only perplexed, but its
ftrength deftroyed, upon any other fuppofition ;
it being the main defign of the Apoftle to fhew,
that the grace of God, through Jefus Chrift, is as
truly intended for the help of our nature brought
into a difadvantageous (late in confequence of the
lapfe, as to affed: our deliverance from the vanity
and mortality to which we have been fubjedled.
And it is this thought, and this only, that will
give connet^ion to his difcourfe, and force to the
K 3 arguments

134 DISSERTATION III.

arguments he has largely infifted on ; as we may
afterwards have occafion to make abundantly evi-
dent.

Iq order therefore to our entertaining ajuft idea
of the true (late of mankind fince the lapfe, we
Ihall be diftind in confidering both the mortalityy
and imperfe^ion of nature, to which we are uni-
verfally fubjedcd: endeavouring, at the fame
time, to give fuch an account of each as may fit
eafy on the mind, and filence the objedlions that
would reprefent either of them as unreafonablc
and abfurd, difhonorary to God, or unjuft to
man.

Only before I proceed, I would interpofe an
important thought, which it would be highly ex-
pedient we (hould heedfully attend to, through
the whole of what- may follow. It is this: the
MOMENT Adam eat of the forbidden tree, he be-
came liable to the threatened death, and had it
not been for thedifplay of^r^^^, he would imme-
diately have been deprived of life 3 in which
cafe he could not have had poflerity. And can it
be imagined, thd,t grace would have fufpended the
operation of the threatening, and continued him
in life fo as to have poflerity, unlefs it had been
the intention of God, that they fhould be dealt
with, as he himfelf was, in a way, not of rigorous
judice, but of gracious mercy. It ought not to
be fuppofed ; nor will the fuppofition at all confifl
with the exprefs declarations of Scripture upon
the point. It is obfervable, the fentence of con-
demnation

DISSERTATION III. 13^

demnation occafioned by the lapfe, is fpoken of
as POSTERIOR to the promife of a Saviour, God
firft declared, that «f the feed of the woman fhould
bruife the ferpcnt's head ;** and after this pro-
nounced the fentence, *' duft thou arr, and unto
duft thou fhalt return.'* This promife, without
all doubt, was intended as a remedy againft the
difadvantages which Adam had brought upon
himfelf, and confequently upon his pofterity, by
means of his *'one offence;" and, in virtue ofit>
they were all placed under a difpenfation of graces
that isj put into fuch a ftate, as that, through ^* the
feed of the woman," it became pofTible for them
to be as happy as Adam would have been, had he
continued in innocencys which could not have
been the cafe, but by a new eftablifhment upon
the foot of grace. The apoftle Paul certainly
viewed the matter in this light. Hence, in the
8th chapter of his Epiftle to the Romans, ver. 20.
he declares, that ** the creature [by which phrafe
he mod certainly includes mankind] was made
fubjedt to vanity [ett iXTn^i] in hope." Of what ?
It follows in the next verfe, " that [fo the particle
6T» Ihould have been rendered here, as it is in
hundreds of places elfewhere] the creature itfelf;
alfo [>£at auTu v\ xTio-K, the felf-fame creature that
had been fubjedled to vanity] fhall be delivered
from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God; which could not
be, it would have been impofllble, but upon a
Btw plan of grace. He very obvioufly leads us
K 4 into

136 DISSERTATION IIL

into the fame way of thinking upon the matter^
in his 5th chapter, i8th verfe, where he fays, " as
by the offence of one, judgment canne upon all
men to condemnation ^ even fo, by the righteouf-
nefs of one, the free gift came upon all men to
the juftification of life.'* And again, ver, 19.
^' as by one man's difobedience, many were made
finners; fo by the obedience of one, many fhall
be made righteous." Thefe texts, in their proper
place, will be largely confidered and explained.
It may, at prefent, without faying any thing upon
them> be left with thofe, to afTign any intelligible
meaning to them, who fuppofe, that the pofterity
of Adam will be dealt with in a way of rigorous
juflice, and not upon the gofpel-fcheme of grace.
The plain truth is, the whole human race, in
confequence of a divine conftitution, occafioned
by the obedience of the one man Jefus Chrift,
are as certainly under the advantage of a deliver-
ance from death, as they were fubjefled to it in
confequence of a counter-conftitution, occafioned
by the offence of the one man Adam. Deliverance
from the power of the grave, is absolutely and
UNCONDITIONALLY the grant ofgtace to mankind
without diftinftion, or exception. It is no more
conne6led with their own agency, than was the
doom to fuffer death i but, be their nation, condi-
tion, ormoralcharadler what itmay, they Ihall as
furely " come forth from their graves,'* as they
went down into them. There can be no room
for difpute here, if it is a revealed truth, that

there

DISSERTATION III. 137

there fhall be a universal refurredlion from the
dead. And let it be added here, the Scripture
is as exprefs and perennptory in affirming, that it
is " in Chrift that all are made alive, as that it is
in Adam all die." It muft therefore be afcribed
to grace, difperfed through the one man Jefus
Chrift, that the human kind will be delivered from
death : It would otherwife have everlaftingly
reigned over them. For, being once dead, they
muft have been for ever dead, if grace had not
interpofed to reftore them to life.

And as the pofterity of Adam came into being
under an abfolute declaration from the omnipotent
God, that they fhall be raifed from death to life^
fo it is made certain to them, that this life, upon
a new eftablifhment of heaven, may be a glo-
rioufly happy one. We are accordingly alfured,
by the infpired Paul, the advantage by Chrift has
exceeded, reached beyond, the damage by Adara,
particularly in this refpecl, that whereas " the
judgment was by one offence to condemnation, the
free gift is oi many offences unto juftification j" the
undoubted meaning of which, at leaft in part, is,
that mankind may, in confequence of the advan-
tage they are placed under by means of Chrift, ob-
tain the gift of pardoning mercy, notwithftanding
their perfonal fins, however many they may have
been. And that they might be prepared, not
only for the beftowment of this gift, but the en-
joyment of an eternal reign in happy life after
death, provifion has been made, through the pro-
mi fed

i^i DISSERTATION III.

mifed " feed of the woman," for the deftrudllon
of the prevalence of fin in them, and the im-
plantation of that " incorruptible feed,'' which
jQiall fpring up in all thofe fruits of rightcoufnefs
which are to the praife of the glory of God. This
was the great thing defigned in the original pro-
mifc, putting the race of men univerfally under
a new flate of trial for an eternal happy life after
deaths and this alfo was the aim of God in the va-
rious difpenfations, at various times, he faw fit to
put any of the fons of men under. And this^ in fpe-
cial, was the grand view of God in the difpenfation
eredled fince the coming of Chrifl, and commonly
called, by way of eminence, the Gofpel-difpenfa-^
tion. In this adminiflration of the law of grace,
with Jefus Chrifl at its head, we are alTured, that
** God is not willing that any Ihould perifh, but
that all fhould come to repentance j" that " who-
foever will, may come, and partake freely of the
water of life j'* and that if any do not '* come to
Chrifl: that they may have life," a life of com-
plete happinefs in heaven, it is becaufe they
'* will not:" for which reafon the fault will be
their own, and not chargeable on Adam, or any
elfe, if they mifs of falvation, and fuffer the
fecond death. But I may not enlarge any farther
here. To return :

I. The firfl: thing propofed to be confidered
was, the fubjedlioa of mankind univerfally to
DEATH, through the lapfe of our firfl: father,

Adam.

DISSERTATION III. 139

Adam. There is no room for difpute as to the
fa(5l itfelf, the fubjedion of the whole human race
to the flroke of death : nor will it be difputed by
thofe who pay regard to the books of facred
Scripture, that this fubjedion to death is owing
to a divine conftitution, occafioned by the lapfe
of the one man Adam. This is an efientiat
article in the apoftle Paul's argument, in Rom. v.
from the 12th to the 20lh verfe; and again in
chap. viii. from the 23d to the 29th vcrfe. And
yet again in his firft Epiftle to the Corinthians,
chap. XV. the 26th and 27th verfes.

But what are we to underfland by this death ?
and how do Adam*s fofterity^ through his lapfe,
become univerfally fubje(5led to it ? Thefe are the
only proper queftions here, and they are too
important not to be particularly and diftin(fl]y
anfvvered.

In anfwer to the firfl of thefe queflions, fome
have faid, that the evil meant by the death to
which Adam was doomed, and which confe-
quentially comes upon his pofterity, is not only
the redudion of that admirably contrived ma-
chine, the body, to its primitive duft, but the
entire de(lru6lion of its animating principle,
called, by Mofes, '^ the breath of life." This
was the fentiment of the great Mr. Locke; and it
has been adopted by many others, in their wri-
tings upon this fubjed. But the Scripture, as it
appears to me, contains nothing in it that gives

countenance

I40 DISSERTATION III.

countenance to fuch an idea of the originall]^
threatened death. Far from this, one of the
eflential ftrokes in the fcheme of redemption ic
reveals, fcems wholly irreconcilable herewith.
What I mean is, that the produdlion of beingsy
after annihilation, is a quite different thing from
that RESURRECTION which is the grand ob}e6t of
the " hope fet before us" in the *' gofpel of the
blefled God.** For, as an excellent writer rea-
fons, when a being has once ceafed to exift, ic
can never exift more the same individual think-
ing being. A new one may be produced exadly
like the former j but it will not be the same with
that which had an end put to its exiftence. After
there hath been a gap, a feparating fpace, nothing
can polTibly unite the being exilling before, and
that which exifls after, into one. And this alone,
to thofe who believe a refurredlion, may be in-
ftead of a thoufand arguments to prove, that the
animating principle in man does not, by deaths
totally ceafe to be. For in this cafe, inftead
of a resurrection, there would be the pro-
dudtion of a new confcious principle, which
would conftitutc a different individual agent,
having no intereft in the good or bad condudl of
that which exified before -, though, perhaps, it
might refemble it as nearly as one being can
another. It is true, that mode of exiftence is
dedroyed by death, which would have put a
period to all pofTibility of perception, or.exertion

in

DISSERTATION III. 141

in any fhape for ever, had it not been for the in-
terpofition of grace, through Cnrift. This has
laid a new foundation for perception and enjoy-
ment after death, if not before, in confequence
of a RESURRECTION; by which the Scripture
means the putting together again the bodily ma-
chine, and animating it with that confcious prin-
ciple, which had not been turned out of exiftf-
ence, but remained in fuch a ftate as to be
capable of conftituting the same individual per-
fon it was before the coming on of death.

Others are pleafed to affirm, and with great
pofitivenefs, that the torments of hell-fire
FOR EVER are included in the death threatened
againft Adam's '^ one offence," and that all his
pofterity, on account of this one adl of difobe-
dience, are expofed to, and may judly have in-
flicted upon them, thefe torments. But it is, in
true reafon, an incredible thing, that the children
of the firft man, throughout all generations,
fliould, becaufe he committed an a6l of fin, be
fubjeded to never-ceasing misery. Can ic
be fuppofed, in confiilency with that comimon
faculty by which mankind are enabled to diftin-
guifh between truth and falfehood, right and
wrong, that the infinitely jult and good God
fhould fend millions that die before they come to
a capacity of moral agency, as is the cafe of
all infants, the moment they leave this world, to
the place of <« weeping, and wailing, and gnafh-
ing qf teeth for ever," and for no other fault

than

142 DISSERTATION III.

than that their firll father, thoufands of years
before they had exiftence, " eat of a tree," con-
cerning which God had faid, " thou (halt not eat
of it?" The thought only of fuch a procedure
in God, is fhocking to the human n:iind ! Ir con-
tradidls all the natural notions we have both of
iuftice and benevolence. It is indeed a mod
injurious refleftion on the " Father of Mercies/'
xinfit to be believed, and impoflible to be true.
Nor is there any thing in the writings, either of
the apoftle Paul, or of the other penmen of the
facred bookS;, that lead to fuch a flrange thought ;
though they have all faid enough to convince all
that need to be convinced, that it is no where
contained in the Bible.

It is eminently worthy of our remark here,
that the apoftle Paul, in the 5th chapter of his
Epiftle to the Romans, the 12th verfe, exprefsly
allures us, that that death, be it v/hat it may,
which entered into the world through the lapfe
of the one man Adam, has passed upon all
MEN. What he means is, not merely, or only,
that all men are liable to this death, but that it
really, and in fa6l, comes upon them. That
which certainly fhall be, he here fpeaks of, as
though it a6tually had been. If now, eternal
MISERY, in a future ftate, is one thing included
in the death with which the original law was
guarded, this misery muft, in events and fact,
be fuffercd by all Adam's pofterity, as well as
himfelfi for the death, with which his lapfe

was

DISSERTATION III. 14^

was threatened, if we may believe the apoftlc
jPaul, HATH PASSED UPON ALL MEN; that is, they
all, in EVENT and fact, do really fuffer it. But ic
would diredly contradidl the whole Scripture-
account of REDEMPTION to fay, that all men are>
or fhall be, eternally miferable in the other
world. The exa(ft truth is, the redemption by
Jefus Chrift does not fuperfede the execution of
the original threatening, but is grafted on it, and
takes rife from it. The pofterity of Adam all
PIE in confequence of his lapfe, according to the
true meaning of the death threatened : but if thisr
death included in it eternal misery, it wouli
be impofTible they Ihould both fufFer it, and be
redeemed from it.

It is further obfervable, " the fire prepared
for the devil and his angels," or, what means
the fame thing, the punifhment the wicked fhall
FINALLY fuffer, is never fpoken of, in the Bible,
as inflicled upon any, till mankind universally
have been delivered from that death which has
paflTed upon them, in confequence of the one
lapfe of the one man Adam. Hence we always read
of the FINAL misery as posterior to the general
judgment, which will not commence till after
the GENERAL RESURRECTION. Now, if nonc of
the fons or daughters of Adam will be con-
demned to FINAL MISERY, till after they have
been delivered from the death which comes
upon them in confequence of his lapfe, it is im-
poflible THIS misery fhould be included in this
4 P£AT« ;

144 DISSERTATION III.

DEATH : efpecially if it be confidered, that this
mifery will not be inflided upon men indiscri-
minately, and UNIVERSALLY, as is the cafe
v/ith refpe6h to the death that connes through
Adam's lapfe. This '* paffes upon all," without
diflinc5lion, or difcrimination : whereas, - final
mifery will be fuffered by thofe only who have
PERSONALLY finned. It is accordingly obferv-
ablc, in all the accounts v/e have of the procefs
of the general judgment, mankind are con-
demned y^/>^r(^/(?/y and /W/i;2i?/^//y 5 and this, not
for the lapfe hy Mam, but for their own perfonal
fins. It will then be " rendered to men ac-
cording to the deeds done in the body;" and
their condemnation will be lighter, or heavier,
in proportion to the number, and aggravating
circumftances, of the fins they have committed
in their own perfons.

Having thus faid what is not the meaning of
the DEATH we are all fubjecSleJ to, through the
lapfe of the one man Adam, it will be more
eafy to afcertain its true and proper fenfe. We
cannot indeed well miflake its juft and full im-
port, if, indead of giving fcope to imagination,
we clofely confine ourfelves to what the Bible
fays upon the matter. For it is at once obvious,
that the term, death, when ufed with reference
to the pofterlty of Adam, confidered fimply as
fuch, cannot contain more in its meaning, than
is included in it v\^hen ufed with reference to
Adam himfelf. Now, the word, peath, as has

been

DISSERTATION lit 14$

been already proved at large, not only In the
threatening denounced againft Adam in cafe of
difobedience, but in the judicial fentence after
his lapfe, means the deftruflion of that mode of
exijience upon which iife was dependent j or, in
other words, the capacity for perception and
enjoyment.

Only it fhould be particularly remembered
here, the holy God> inftead of turning Adam
INSTANTLY out of life, as he had a right to do,
in virtue of the threatening, upon l^is one a^fl of
difobedicnce, he only turned him out of paradlfe^
fubjedling him, in the room of that happy life he
might have enjoyed, had he not finned, to a life
of toil, labour, and forrow, that would gradually^
but certainly, terminate in death. The fentence
of condemnation, recorded Gen. iii* 17, 18, 19,
is clearly and fully exprefTive of this. The words
run thus: *' And unto Adam he faid, becaufe
thou haft eaten of the tree of which I command-
ed thee, faying, thou Ihalt not eat of it j curfed
is the ground for thy fake. In forrow (halt thou
eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns alfo
and thirties fhall it bring forth to thec; and thou
(halt eat of the herb of the field. In the fweat of
thy face fhalt thou eat bread, till thou return to
the ground j for out of it waft thou taken : for
duft thou art, and unto duft flialc thou return."
It is abundantly evident, from this condemnatory
fentence of God, not only that it was for Adam*s
fm that the earth was curfed i but that it was

L curfed

146 DISSERTATION III.

curfed (as has been largely illuftrated) upon thrs
fpeciai defign, namely, that he nnight thereby be
fubjefled to a life of labour and forrow, till he
-fliould return to his original dud.

This now leads us into a clear and jufl idea of
the real circumflances of his pofterity in confe-
quence of his lapfe. We come into exiftence,
*and live on this earth, not as it was in its priftine
(late, but as it now lies under the curfe of God •,
that is, adapted to render life, as long as it
lafts, a fcene of labour, vanity, and forrow. It
is both feen and felt, by unhappy experience, that
the world we inhabit is fucb, in its prefent (late,
as that it is impoflible for any fon or daughter of
Adam to poflefs life in it, but in fufferix^g cir-
cumllances in a lefs or greater degree. As the
Scripture fpeaks, " man that is born of a woman
is of fev/ days, and full of trouble." And again,
" he is born to trouble as the fparks fly up-
wards." And fuch, in truth, are the inconve-
niencies and trials, fuch the labours and forrows
we are all fubjedled to, by the very conftitution
of the earth we live upon, fo various in their
kind and unavoidable in their nature, that the
prefent (late of exiftence may be confidered as a
fcene of vanityy fufferingy and death \ and the
longer we, any of us, continue in it, the more
thoroughly we are convinced, that this is a real re-
prefentation of the cafe. Some, perhaps, fufFer
more evil than they enjoy good ; and if any en-
joy more good than they fufFer evil, it is but in a

fmall

DISSERTATION HI. 147

fmall degree. The fame earth that is fitted to
give us pleafure, is fitted alfo to give us pain;
and every convenience is fo attended with fonne
oppofne inconvenience, that it is hard to fay, ia
many cafes, on which fide the balance turns.
At the beft, our condition here is fo chequered
with interchangeable good and evil, that we may
all take to ourfelves words, and fay, with ac-
curate truth, " vanity of vanities, all is vanity,
and vexation of fpirit."

This was not the ftate in which God created
the ftrji of our race. The Scripture, inftead of
fuggefting that it was, is particular and exprefs
in declaring, that it was owing to the difobedi-
cnce of the one man Adam^ in the fpecial article
wherein he was tried, and the curse of God
thereby brought on the earth, that death entered
into the worlds with its forerunners and ap-
pendages, in all their tormenting forms, and has
reigned ever fince, and even over thofe, who
never " finned after the fimilitude of his tranf-
grefTioni*' which naturally leads to the other
propofed queftion,

How, or in what fenfe, does the lapfe of
Adam fubjedl his pofterity to thefe difadvan-
tages, fignified [by death \ The anfwcr whereto
is plainly this:

Adam, having ** cat of the forbidden tree,'*

was, by the judicial fentence of God, doomed to

a life q{ vanity andforrow^ ending in deatbi which

judicial fentence consequentially extends to,

L % and

148 DISSERTATION III.

and affeds, all his pofterity throughout all gene-
rations. The apoflle Paul is particularly exprefs
upon this point. Hence thofe words of his,
Rom. viii. 20. '^ the creature was made fubje6t
to vanity, not willingly, but by reafon of him
who fubjeded the fame." — It is diredlly affirmed,
in this text, that " the creature," by which word
muft be meant, at lead in part, the creature
MAN *, was " fubjefled to vanity ; and not only
fo, but that it was brought into this fubjedlion
by the will, or constitution, of God. For
this is evidently the import of the words,
[^ia TQv vnorcc'^oLvroJ] " by him who fubjeded the
fame." Dr. Doddridge indeed fuppofes Adam
to have been the him^ by whom mankind became
*• fubie6led to vanity.'* Mr. Locke fay's, it was
the devil. But neither of thefe writers, however
high an opinion we may have of them, appear to
have hit upon the true fubftantive here under-
ftood. It is readily owned, both the devil and
Adam had a hand in introducing this fubjec-
tion: Adam, by his one a6t of difobedience;

♦ If the words in this pafTage of Scripture, ij xtjctk, and
wacra *T.<n?, a'C extended in their meaning, as fonie are
pleafed to extend them, fo as to take in the inanimate part of
the creation, the rational or moral part ought not to be left
out; as the judicial fentence, *' fubjcding the creature to va-
nity," particularly afFefted the rational part of the creation, or
mankind. And it refpeaed the creation, as to its inanimate parr,
no otherwife than as a mean to carry the judicial fentence, as it
would affea mankind, the more fully into execution. The
ratiofUil creature ought therefore to be more efpecially confidercd
ai the creature here fpoktn of as ** fubjeaed to vanity."

6 and

DISSERTATION III. 149

and the devil, by tempting him to it. But
though the devil's temptation was the occafion of
Adam's difobedience, and Adam's difobediencc
was v/hat gave occafion to this fubjecftion ; yet
the will of Gody publifhed in the judicial fen-
tence, taking rife from this difobedience, was
that, and that only, which fafiened it on man-
kind. This will, or conftiturion, of God, there-
fore, taking rife from Adam's lapfe, mull: be the
thing intended by the apodle. Nor will there
be any room for doubt upon the matter, if we
compare what he here fays, with his more clear
and pofitive declarations upon the fame point
in the 5th chapter. His words are, ver. 16.
" the judgment was by one to condemnation."
And again, ver. 18. '* by the offence of one,
judgment came upon all men to condemnation."
The meaning of which texts is, that mankind
univerfaliy are fubje(fted to mortality, with the
appendages and attendants on it, by the judicial
fentence of God, occafioned by the '^ one of-
fence" of the " one man" Adam, their common
father. No fenfe that does not include this, can
be put upon thefe Scripture-pafTages. This I
efteem a point beyond ail reafonable difpute.

Another qucftion therefore arifes here, namely,
how comes it to pafs, that the pofterity of Adam
are included in the judicial fentence of God,
which, by reafon of his lapfe, condemned hiix)
to a (late of fuffering and death ?

L i This

ip DISSERTATION III.

This queftion has often been refolved by fay-
ing, that, in virtue of a conflituted relation be-
tween Adam and his poderity, they sinned when
he comnnitted the *^ one ad" of difobedience,
and that, for this reafon they were involved, in
common with him, in all the evils confequent
upon the firft tranfgreffion. But this, without the
lead hefitation, may be pronounced the invention
of man, and not a truth contained in the word of
God* There is no hint given in the Mofaic
hiftory of the fall, of Adam's being fo conftituted
the head of his pofterity, as that they sinned
when he eat of the forbidden tree. The whole
Old Teftament is filent alfo upon this matter^
and a fevy phrafes only in the New Teilamenc
are repaired to, ^s containing this fentiment.
The principal ones are to be met with in the 5th
chapter of Paul's epiftle to the Romans, in the
i2th verfe, where it is faid, ^' de^th hath pafTed
upon all men, for that all have finned j" and in
the J 9th verfe, in which his words are, f by one
man's difobedience many were made finners."
But it is one of the grpfleft miftakes to fuppofe,
that the apoftle intended to convey this idea, that
Adam's poUcrky /imed when he finned, and th^t,
for this reafon, they are fubjeded to death. Such
a condrudion of his words appears, at firft fight,
to a mind not previoufly blinded with prejudice,
to be as truly abfurd as to fay, that the facramen-
tal bread and \yine, by the prieft's confccration of
jbfmj are converted into the real body and blood

DISSERTATION III. 151

of Chrlft i or that God, who is a pure fpirit, has
eyes and ears, hands and feet. The Tin of one
man cannot be the fin of another, unlefs he has
been in fome way or other accefTary to it. The
thought involves in it a palpable inconfiftency
with the nature of things. Moral irregularity and
moral agency y are infeparably connedlcd with each
other. Were the pofterity of Adam, thoufands of
years before they had a being, moral agents ?
Could they, while as yet in poflible exiftence only,
have been, in any fhape or view, accomplices ia
the ^m of their firft progenitor ? Are they not as
diftindl beings from him as they are from one
another ? And can one being be a finner, becaufe
another that is diftinft and different from him is
fo : A greater moral contradidion can fcarce be
conceived of. Bcfides, nothing is more abfurd
than to fuppofe, thofe fhould be chargeable with
fin, wherein they never were, or could be, con-
fcious of the leaft guilt. Were any of the fpns or
daughters of Adam ever confcious of its being a
fault of theirs, that their firfl: father eat of the
forbidden tree ? They may have been affected
with grief, while they have employed their
thoughts on this fin of his : but did they ever
blame themfelves for it I Did God's vicegerent
in their breads ever accufe and upbraid them for
THEIR difobedience, in the one ad of Adam's dif-
obedience ? I dare be bold to fay, this was never
the cafe, with refped to any one of the firft man's
defcendants, unlefs through the influence of a
L 4 deceived

J52 PISSERTATION III.

deceived imagination. We are indeed fo made,
by the God of nature, that we cannot be con-
fcious of any fault, unlefs we have personally
done that which is wrong. And this is an invin-
cible proof, that God doth not look upon Adam's
pofterity as hs-ving^medy when he committed the
one oftence, which has brought death into the
world. Surely, he will not account vn^nftnners for
that, in relation to which they cannot charge
thcmreives with being finners^, and it is impoffible
they fliould^ while they pay regard to their proper
make, as intelligent and moral agents. 1 fhall
further fay here, fuch an interpretation of the
"^ ^poftle's words as has been oppofcd would make
him fpeak inconfidently with himfelf. For, in
the 8th chapter of this epiftle, where he is upon
the fame fubjed, he diredlly affirms, that ** the
creaLure," the rational creature, man, *^ was made
fubjedt to vanity, not willingly," ou;/ fKouo-aj, not
by any wilful adl of its own*: nay, in the very-
paragraph jtfelf in which thefe phrafes are found,

* S.iys a critical expofitor in loc and, as I judge, vfith great
pertinency and iruth, izovaa feems here to have the fame figni-
fiCation as £xo;;c-ii^r, nvil/u'lly, Heb. x. 2':> ; or as ^s>.ovtac, 2 Pet
'iif. 5. '* this they are wilfully ignorant of. What we render,
*' lie not in wait," (Exod. xxi. 13. J the Seventy render,
iv'/^iKuv, *' not wilfully, in oppofition to *' prefumptuouHy,*'
i<i the next verfe. '7'hus ly.ci'jax denotes a criminal choice, and
in an high hnnd too; [carefully obferve, how Excfcriw? flands,
\\i:h. X. 26,] nam<rly, a iranfgrf ffion fubjeding to wrath. *' The
creature w.?s made fubjeft to vanity," not by its own criminal
choice^ not by *f finning after the fimilitude of Adam's iranf-
frrefiion," Rom, y. 14.

the

DISSERTATION III. 153

the apoflle would grofsly contradid himfclf, and
counteradl his own reafoning, if he meant, that
we had '^ finned by Adam's finning ,*' and that
it was for this reafon, upon this account, that we
were brought under fubje<5lion toforrow and death.
For he has very clearly and ftrongly declared,
over and over again, that we were fubjedled to
death, not for any fin of our ov/n, but through
the fentence of God, occafioned by the lapfe, fin,
or offence of our common progenitor, " the one
man Adam." Hence thofe decifive aflirmations,
'^ through the offence of one, the many [o* ttoAAo*]
are dead/' ver, 15; " the judgment was by one
to condemnation," ver. 16 -, " death reigned by
ONE," ver. 17 J " by the offence of one, judgment
came upon all men to condemnation," ver. i"3.
The true meaning of which text is obviouOy and
certainly this, that mankind were fubjedled to a
fuffering mortal ftate, not for any fin they had
THEMSELVES Committed j but solely through the
confliitution of God, occafioned by the lapfe, of-
fence, or difobedience, of" the one man Adam."
This matter is made, if pofllble, yet more indu-
bitable in the parallel the apofl:le has run, in verfes
15, 16, and 17, between "Adam," and " Chrifi:,'*
in which he confiders " the offence of Adam,"
on the one hand, as the true fource, through the
confl:itution of God, of that ^^ death which pafles
upon all menj" and the ^* obedience of Chrift,"
on the other hand, as the proper ground, through
^ like divine conftitution, of" the gift unto jufti-

fication

154 DISSERTATION III.

fication of life." So that " the offence of Adam/'
and not any fm of ours, is as truly the occafion of
our fubjeition to death, as the " obedience of
Chrift/* and not '^ our own perfonal obedience/*
IS the reafon or ground of our being adnnitted to
the benefit of juftification. Accordingly, when
the apoftle fays, that " death hath paffed upon
all men, for that all have finned i" and that, '* by
the difobedience of one, many are made fin-
ners : I fay, when the apoftle declares thus, he
ought nor, mod certainly, to be underftood in a
ienfe that will make us sinners by Adam's fin-
ning, and ground our fubjed:ion to death on our
OWN SIN inflead of his •, for this would introduce
a downright contradiction between the fenfe of
thefe phrafes, and thofe paffages, in the fame
paragraph, which afBrm, that '^ death reigned
by ONE ;" that we were " dead by the offence of
one/' and that the "judgment to condemnation
was by the difobedience of on^*," The real

* In what has been above offered, it will readily be per-
ceived, that I have not endeavoured to afceitain the trae real
meaning of the apoftle Paul in thofe phrafes, '* for that all have
finned/* and " by the difobedience of one, many were rnade
finners." This was purpofely erafed, left it (hould have been,
in the prefent courfe of reafoning, too long, and too dry an
interiuption for common reader^. What I have to fay upon
this head, I have referyed for a fupplement, in which I (hall
clofely and critically examine thefe phrafej, and the pafTages in
which they are found. To this part of the work, the more in-
quifitive reader is referred ; where, it may be, he will meet with
that which will pofitively let him into the juft import of the
phrafes that hare been mentioned.

truth^

DISSERTATION III. 155

truth, upon the whole, is, that Adam's being
the conftituted head of his pofterity, in a lenfe
that would infer, that they sinned when he '^ eat
of the forbidden tree,'* and are chargeable with
tranfgreflion in this inftance wherein he tranfgrelT-
ed, is not only an abfurdity in reafon, but a
thing quite remote from the apoftle's thought,
and indeed abfolucely inconfiftent with the whole
fcopeof his argument in this portion of Scripture,
We may therefore befure, thepofterity of Adam
^re not fubjefted to fufFerings and death, in con-
fequence of the original lapfe, becaufc they fin-
ned when Adam finned ^ no conflitution, in con-
fiftency" with the make of men, as individual mo-
ral agents, could put this within the reach of
poflibiiicy.

But, if the pofterlty of Adam are not fubjedled
to a ftate of fuffering and death, as hsiving Jtnned
fuhen he Jinned^ the queflion flill recurs, from
whence does this proceed? How comes it to pafs,
that the judicial fentence, which waspafTed upgn
him, takes place upon them alfo ? The anfwer
whereto is plainly this:

As Adam was the natural head, root, or
(lock, from whence the human fpecies were to
come into being, their fubjeclion to fufFering and.
death became unavoidable, upon the judicial aft
of God, which condemned him thereto. For as
is the (lock, fo muft the branches be 3 and as is
the fountain, fo mufl the waters be that flow from
\u \ ihall not think it needlefs, or impertinent,

«9

136 DISSERTATION III.

to dilate a little in explaining myfelf upon this
point J as it enters fo eflcntially into the fubjedt
we are upon, and the apoflle Paul's account of
the lapfe, in the 5th chapter of his Epiftle to the
Romans. Let it then be obferved,

Though it pleafed God, without the interven-
tion of fecond caufes, to give being to the firfl
man Adam ; yet it was with an intention, that he
fbould be the head, root, ox ficck, from whence,
in a mediate fucceffive way, conformably to laws
cflablilhed by his wifdom, the whole human race
fhould be brought into exiftence. This being the
plan, according to which mankind were to have
their beings in the world, the condition, or cir-
cumflances, under which they were to receive
them, was unavoidably dependant on the condi-
tion, or circumftancer, of him who was their
original father. Had he, by his integrity, in his
day of trial, fecured that favour of his Maker,
which put him in poflefTion of paradife, and gave
him accefs to the *' tree of life,'* defigned to
render him immortal*, he would have tranfmit-

ted

* Ft ought to be particularly remembered here, Adam, in his
innocent ftate, was naturally a mortal creature. He was made
©f ** the duft,** and, according to the courfeof nature, would
have " returned to duft," had it not been for •* the tree of
life," which, by virtue communica:ed 10 it from God, or by its
being a divinely inftituted fymbol of the perpetual continuance of
life, would have made it certain, that that which was mortal
fhouM, by the in-erpofnion of grace, be made immortal. So that
the judicial fentencc, dooming Adam to death, was really nc-
|J)in^ more than the wijhdrawm^nt of tjiat free favour, to which

it

DISSERTATION III. 15;

ted exiftence to his defcendints under thefe ad-
vantages : whereas, on the other hand, having,
by his difobedience, in the article wherein he was
tried, expofed himfelf to an exclufion from para-
dife, and a right to " take of the tree of lifci*'
and not only fo, but to a judicial fentence from
the fupreme lawgiver and judge, *^ curfing the
earth for his fake," that is, that he might be in
a date of labour and forrow, till he fhould ^' re-
turn to the duft" out of which he was taken ; 1
fay, it now became impoffible, confidently with

it was entirely owing, that he might have enjoyed immortality,
without pafling through death. The defcendants from Adam
come into being, as he did, naturally mortal, corruptible crea-
tures : only with this difference, the favour of God, which, if
Adam had not been difobedient, would have continued him in
life for ever, without the intervention of death, is not granted
to his poUeriiy. And what obligation can it be fuppofed God
could be under to prevent that death, which, according to the
courfe of nature, would take place in confequence of thofe cor-
ruptible materials of which we are formed? It was moil cer-
tainly a matter of choice, under the diredion of wifdom, whether
he would, or would not, interpofe by his grace to hinder that,
which muft otherwife come into efFed. And, as he had feea
fit to countera<?l, by a difplay of favour, the natural operation
of eflablifhed laws, who Ihall charge him with having done
wrong ? It would be an ungenerous return to the good God, if
I did not add here, that the pollerity of Adam may, upon the
foot of a new plan of grace through Chiift, be as fureof a happy
immortality, if they are obedient fince the lapfc, as they would
have been, if Adam had continued in innocence ; only with thi*
difference, they might, in that cafe, have enjoyed perpetual life,
without death ; whereas they muft nowpafs through death before
the mortal can>puc on immortality.

the

tsi DISSERTATION IIL

the eftablifhed method in which his pofterity were
to come into exiftence, but that it (hould be
tranfmitted to them under the difadvantageous
circumftances of forrow and mortality, to which
their firfl: father had himfelf been fubjeded. The
condemnatory fentence, pronounced againft Adam
for his " one offence," could not but extend
CONSEQUENTIALLY to them, and affedl them, as
they were to proceed out of his loins, according
to eftablifhed laws. God muft have altered tlie
cilablifhed method of their coming into exiftence,
or their fharing with their common father in the
difadvantages under which he pofiefled life, by
reafon of his lapfe, muft have been unavoidable
in the nature of thing?:.

This I take to be the true anfsver to the above
queftion -, and, indeed, to all the objedions
which have been made to our being in a futfer-
ing ftate, through the offence of the one man
Adam. And I cannot but efteem it entirely
fatisfa^tory ; and the rather, becaufe our frail
mortal condition, in confequence of the fin of
our firft progenitor, is, in this view of it, per-
fe»5lly analogous to what ftill happens every day,
in confequence of eftablifhed laws in general, and
the law of propagation in particular.

It is the real truth of fa6t, not only that man-
kind are made, and preferved, by the interven-
tion of fecond caufes, in an eftabliftied courfe;
but that this is the occafion of numberlefs infeli-

cities.

DISSERTATION III. 159

cities, which they daily groan under, but cannot
prevent. There is not a perfon in all the world,
but has fuffered more or lefs, in one kind or ano-
ther, in confequencc of thofe eftabliflied conec-
tions which conflitute what we call, the courfe of
nature. This is particularly the cafe of children
with refped to their more immediate progeni-
tors. They not only derive from them that
mortality, with its attendants, which is common
to all men 5 but various special disadvan-
tages, by means whereof life is rendered far
lefs defirable than it would otherv/ife have been.
Thoufands and ten thoufands of children have
had tranfmitted to them, in confequence even
of the vices of thofe they defcended from, con-
ftitutional diforders, which have been the occa-
fion, not only of tormenting fenfacions while
they lived, but of bringing on death before they
had continued on the earth one half the general
period of human life. Nay, it has often hap-
pened, that children have been fufferers, and to a
great degree too, even in confequence o{ judicial
fentences both from God and man, taking rife
from the mifdoings of their parents. The con-
nexion, indeed, between parents and children
is fuch, that parents cannot beyW/V/W/ypuniflied,
either by God or man, but children will, in
fome fhape or other, be fufferers with them.
And, in many cafes, a condemnatory fentence^
calling place upon parents, cannot but conse-

<il7ENTIALLY

t6o DISSERTATION III.

QUENTIALLY extend to their children, depriving
thenn of fuch advantages in life, as will fubjedl
them to a flate of comparative mifery.

And, perhaps, there is no way in which we
can fo well account for this, as by recurring to
eftabliflied laws, in confequence of which it be-
comes unavoidable, that children (hould be
liable to fufFerings, through even the default of
their parents. And the fubje<5lion of mankind
in general to a fu^Fering mortal flate, in confe-
quence of the lapfe of Adam, and his condemn-
ation therefor, is, in this way, as eafily and
fully reconcilable with the juftice and benevo-
lence of God, as the fufFerings of particular
children, in confequence of the folly of their
more immediate progenitors. They both arife
from the fame caufe, and evidently bear an
analogy to each other.

II. The other thing mankind univerfally arc
fubjedted to, fince the lapfe, and in confequence

of if, is a STATE OF NATURE LESS PERFECT, than

it might otherwife have been, rendering it
morally impoflible that they (hould, upon the
foot of STRICT RIGOROUS LAW, attain to the
juftification of life.

This Jfak of nature is confidered by many
under the notion of a moral taint j an infec-
tion, corruption, or depravity, that is sinful,
or WICKED. But this, without all doubt, is an

impof-

DISSERTATION III. i6i

iiripoflibility in the moral world. Nothing tranf-
mitted to us from Adann, or any of our more
immediate parents, can, fimply in this view,
tnske us Jinful^ or^ what means the fame thing,
morally faulty. It may be our unhappinefs
to come into exiftence with a nature lefs per^
fe5l than it might have been; but it cannot
be, that we fhould be blameworthy on this
account. We are incapable fubjedts of blame,
till we become moral agents : nor can we thea
deferve blame, only as we are chargeable with
voluntary negled in improving, or reftraining,
or governing the nature that has been commu-
nicated to us. This is fo evident, upon the bare
propofal, that no medium of proof can make ic
more fo. It is indeed a truth intuitively appearing
to be fo to alii who have not, in one way or ano-
ther, become " vain in their imaginations,"
having " darkened their hearts." Without our
own agency, how fhould it be pofllble we fhould
be blameworthy ? And are we at all concerned,
as agents, in our own formation ? Do not we
come into being abfolutely independent on our-
felves ? What more grofsiy abfurd, therefore,
than to think, or fuppofe, that Adam, becaufe
he had finned, fhould tranfmit to his pofterity a
nature that is finful ; or fuch as that it may be
charged with moral fauhinefs, as it exifts
SIMPLY in the ftate in which ic was tranf-
mitted ?

M Perhaps,

1^2 DISSERTATION III.

Perhaps, Chriflian divines have fpoken upon
no fiibjed with greater inaccuracy, not to fay
inconfiftently with the truth, than upon the
article we are now confidering. It has been too
generally their dodtrine, that the pofterity of
Adam, as they come into exiftence, are, in con-
fequence of his lapfe, morally depraved in
all their powers. Hence the frequent mention
that is made, in their writings, of a moral blind-
nefs of mind, perverfenefs of will, hardnefs of
heart, ftupidity of confcience, irregularity of
pafTions and affedions, which mankind univer-
fally are born with •, and as their fault too, and
what they are blameable for, fo as on this ac-
count to be liable to the eternal wrath of Al-
mighty God. But no fuch dodlrine as this can
be the truth of revelation^ becaufe inconfiftent
with the real, known, certain ftate of human
nature, in its fimple form, as tranfmitted from
Adam. Neither our underftandings, or wills,
or hearts, or confciences, or afFedlions, are any-
more at fir ft than implanted powers, abfolutely in-
capable, at prcfent, of moral exertion 5 though
capable of opening and expanding, and be-
coming, in time, fitted therefor. How, in this
view of the matter, fhould we be accountable for
thofe powers, upon our firft coming into exift-
ence, or chargeable with any fault for their being
what they are? For they are now fuch, and only
fuch, as the Author of our being, abfolutely

without

DISSERTATION III. 163

without any cbolcg or dcwg of ours, was plcafed,
according to a courfe of nature his own wifdom
eftablifhed> to communicate to us. It is no
more our fault, it is not pofTible, in the nature of
things, it fhould be, that we have not as perfect
powers as any may fuppofe Adam to have had ia
innocency, than that we iiave not tiie fame powers
the angels in heaven are endowed with. The
good culture, and proper exercife, of our im-
planted powers, is that, and that only, on ac-
count of which we are capable, in the nature of
things, of being chargeable with blame. I fhall
not think it an impertinence to illuftrate this by
a particular inftance.

The mental power we call the underftanding,
is at firft a naked capacity, fitted for the recep-
tion of knowledge, bur, at prefent, totally de^"
titute of it. For there can be no knowledge
without ideas ; and thefe, conforniably to the
eftablifhed courfe of nature, are acquired but
(lowly and gradually. ImprefTions from the ma-
terial world, by the intervention of fuitably
adapted bodily organs, affcdl the mind, and in
time (lore it with ideas ; which ideas, together
with the perceptions we have of the operations of
ourovv'n minds, are the true fource of the-icnow-
ledge we naturally attain ro> in this prefent ftate.
Is it now any fault of ours, that we come into
exigence thus dcllitute of actual knowledge ?
Will any affirm, that we are, upon this account,

M 2 7)1 or ally

104 DISSERTATION III.

morally blind, orfinfully in the dark ? A man mud
be out of his fenfes to fuppofe fuch a thing.

Should it be faid, the underftanding, confi-
dered as one of the powers of our nature, is
tranfmitted to us, by reafon of the lapfe, in a lefs
perfe<5l (late than it would otherwife have been.
Be it fo. What follows herefrona ? Not that we
zxt faulty in poireffing this power in this lefs per-
fect ftate; not that it is ouvfiny and that we are
blanneworthy on this account. It may be our
unhappinefs, that our faculty of underftanding is
not communicated in a more perfedl (late; but
k is not, neither is it pofTible it (hould be, an
immorality^ or vice in us. This power, in the
fimple (late in which it is tranfmitted to us, is
jull fuch as God was pleafcd it (hould be. And
if there is any moral fault in its being no better,
wherever the reproach finally terminates, we are
certainly clear of it.

The plain truth is, there is no imaginable
fenfe in which we can be faulty, or chargeable
with fin, with refpedb to our underftanding, but
by negle6ling, or mifufing it, after we are be-
come proper moral agents. And here, one would
think, without going any further back, there is
room enough for blame. And, indeed, we are
all blameable, in a lefs or greater degree, for
want of care in the culture of our underitandings,
or for not making a wife and good ufe of them.
Though it ought to be well obferved here, the
fault, with refped to the underftanding, which

the

DISSERTATION III. 165

tfje Scripture defcribes by its being «' blinded,"
or " darkened,'* is always the refult of moral
folly in \ht perfons tbemfeheSy vvhofe underftandings
are reprefented to be in this bad itate. This
<* blindnefs," or *^ darknefs," is of that fort which
argues a wilfully depraved mind, and could noc
have taken place, if the fubjefbs of it had noc
negledled their underftanding, cr abufed their
natural powers, by perverting it to thofe ends for
which it was not implanted in them.

It may, in a fcnfe, it is true, be faid, even of
the beft of men, that they have " darkened their
hearts," and " blinded their minds ;" for who will
pretend, that he has made fogooda ufe of the means
of information and inftrudion as he ought to have
done, and might have done ? Yea, who can de-
clare, and do it with truth, that he has not
adlually been the occafion of introducing dark-
nefs, inflead of light, into his mind, in a Icfs or
greater degree, by criminally indulging too un-
reafonable prejudices, and undue attachments
to his pafiions and affedions ? But even this
*' blindnefs," which good men, in this imperfcel
ilate, are too often chargeable with, is not that
which is pointed out in Scripture, when it fpeaks
of the '' heart as darkened," and the '^ mind as
alienated from God through ignorance." It is
rather now defcribing the character of habitually
wicked men, and giving us an idea of that moral
corruption, or defilement of their underftand.-
M 3 ings.

i66 DISSERTATION III.

ings, v;hich is not the effefl of xn^rt frailty^ but
o^ great wilfulnejs and perverfenefs.

What has been thus faid of the underdanding,
is equally applicable to all our other implanted
powers, and will readily be perceived to be fo
by every intelligent reader. They are all, at
Jlrjl^ mere capacities only, neither fitted nor
defigned for prefent moral exertion, but yet fo
formed as that, in time, they may attain to an
ability herefor. And thefe capacities, what-
ever they are upon our firft coming into the
world, being precifely fuch as were commiuni-
cated to us, abfolutely without any will, adion^
or influence of ours, conformably to laws efta-
bliihed by the God of nature from the beginning
of the creation, how fhould they be morally
faulty in their firft fimple exiilence ? Nothing is
more felf-evidently true, than that their becom-
ing morally depraved, in whatever degree they
are thus depraved, is, and mull be, the effed of
the perfofial folly of each individual fubjecl of
thefe powers, by the negledl, mifimprovement,
abufe, and perverfion of them. Nor is any fon
of Adam efieemed blameworthy, with refpeft to
thefe original capacities, upon any other account,
or in any other view, in any part of the whole
book of God.

It is commonly faid here, Adam had, by

his «^ one offence," corrupted his whole nature;

and, being hinifeif a creature totally corrupt,

I. before

DISSERTATION IIL 167

before Jie was a father, fuch alfo mud be his
pofterity. The defcendants from him inuil be,
as he was, morally corrupt, or finful, in all their
tranfmitted powers.

The reply is obvious. Adam, in virtue of
the law of propagation, eftablillied by God, was
no more than the medium, inPirument, or means,
by which the human kind, in diftinclion from
every other, fhould be brought into exiftence.
He could only tranfmit, in confequence of this
law, THAT NATURE which would denominate the
• defcendants from him men, and not creatures
of another fort or kind. His fuperinduced
charadler, as a morally corrivpt man, was no part
of that nature he was made, by God, an inftru-
ment m tranfmitting to others : nor indeed could
it have been in confiftency with the eternal rule
of right. There can be no fuch thing 2is moral
depravity, but in conne6lion v/ith mifuied moral
agency. And will any fay, that the mifufed
moral agency of one man can, by propagation,
be tranfmitted to another, fo as to be his mif-
ufed moral agency? Yea, that this miUifcd
moral agency is capable of being communicated
from one mcrally corrupt man, througiiout all
generations to the end of time ? And yet, this
mud be the cafe, if Adam, becanfe he had
vwrally corrupted himfelf, mud: tranfmit moral
corruption to all that ever have, or will proceed
from him. There is not a more certainly knovvn
truth, than that the qualities of parents, conii-
M 4 diMcd

i63 DISSERTATION III.

dered as virtuous or viciousy in confequence of the
good or bad ufe of their moral agency, are not
tranfmitted to children. The machines, called
our bodies, it is true, may, in confequence ot
the virtues or vices of progenitors, be tranf-
mitted in a better or worfe flate to be employed
as inftruments for the foul to a6t by. But this
infers only a more or lefs advantageous commu-
nication of exiftences not any w^T^/ faultinefs, or
finfulnefs, in the exiftence itfelf^ confidered
fimply as communicated. We come into being,
in the way of generation, exiftences of the fame
rank, or order, that Adam was, in diftindion
from the other creatures; but as to any fuper-
induced qualities, confidered as virtuous or vi-
cious, they were not propagated from him to any
of his immediate children, nor from them to
any other generations : nor was it ever intended
by God that they Ihould, in virtue of the di-
vinely infiituted law of multiplying the human
kind. The powers that effentially conftitute the
nature of man, in diftindlion from the other
fpecies of creatures, are communicated by gene-
ration, not that ftate of thofe powers which is
the effeft of the good or bad improvement of
them. The proper juft character of every indi-
vidual of the human race, as virtuous or viciouSy
as mordly depraved or holy, muft be determined,
not by their powers, as fimply communicated
with their exiftence, but by the ufe they make
of them, after they have arrived to an ability of

a(fling

DISSERTATION III. 169

lading as moral agents. This account of the
matter is both intelligible and reafonable ; and
|iot only fo, but it perfc6tly agrees with revela-
tion, which blames no man but for his folly in
not making that ufe of his tranfmicted powers,
under the advantages he is favoured with, which
it is reafonable he Ihould do, and muft be felf-
condemned if he does not.

It may not be amifs to add here. How is it
known, that Adam was that entirely corrupted
creature^ '^ indilpofed to all good, and prone to
all evil continually," he is reprefenred to have
been ? Does the Scripture teach us this for
truth? It informs us, it is aknowledged, that he
difobeyed in the one article wherein he was
tried j and that, in confequence of this fin of his,
he became expofed to the penalty of the lav/ he
had violated ; infomuch, that it might have been
immediately put in execution. But where do we
find, that, in confequence of his lapfe, his
WHOLE NATURE bccame fmfully corrupt, either
by natural operation^ or divine infii5lion? It is
not eafy to conceive, how one fingle adt of fin
fhould naturally operate to produce at once this
efFedl. It certainly does not fo operate, with
refpedt to thofe of his pofterity, who are '^ new
men in Chrifl:." And no good reafon can be
given, vvhy its operation fliould be fo widely dif-
ferent in regard of their firft father. And are we
fold by the infpired writers, that this befel him,
jn a way of punifhmen^j by inflidtioq from the

Deity ?

lyo DISSERTATION III.

Deity ? Mod certainly Mofes has given us no
juch accouhr; though he has particularly re-
corded the fVotence of condemnation that was
pafTed on him k>r his '^ one offence." If any other
of the facrcd penmen have tranfmitted fuch an
one, let it be plainly and particularly pointed out.
In the mean time, it fhould be remembered,
Adam, notwithftanding his lapfe, and all the
effects of it, whether natural or judicial, was
favoured by God, and even before the condemna-
tory fentence was pafTed, with the promife of
THE woman's SEED, in confcqucncc of which,
being placed under a new ftate of trial, he might
fo ufe, and improve, his originally implanted
powers, as to attain the character of a truly
rif^hteous man, formed to a meetnefs for an eter-
nal life of blelTednefs in the refurredlion-world.
And, for aught that is known by any one living
to the contrary, this might have been his cha-
raBeVy he might have been this righteous matjy
before he had pofierity. And if this was the
cafe, it may as reafonably be faid, that the de-
fcendants from him were horn righteous, as tliat
they would have been horn ccrrupty had he been
the corrupt creature that is pretended ; though
the real truth is, neither a virtuous or vicious
chara6ter is tranfmitted by propagation. This .
always was from the beginning of the world,
and will be to the end of it, confequent upon a
good or bad ufe of the effential powers that have

been

DISSERTATION III. 171

been communicated, conformably to the efta-
blifhed law of propagation.

It is faid likewifc, in vindication of our de-
riving from Adam, with our very exigence, a
totally corrupt nature^ that we may feel the work-
ings of this corruption, and fo as to know, from
our own inward perceptions, that we really are
the corrupt creatures we are reprefented to be.
I anfw^r, be the perceptions of the working of
corruption as flrong, and general, as any may
fuppofe them to be, it will not follow from
hence, that any fon of Adam ever felt the work-
ing of what is called original corruption, or
corruption communicated with exiftence itfelf.
Who, among all that have defcended from the
firft pair, can fay, from their own experience,
what their inward workings were, when they firft
came into exiftence ? They were then no more
capable of feeling moral corruption, than of
morally corrupting themfelves. It requires time,
I might fay years, according to the eftabliOi-
ment of heaven, before we are capable either of
moral feeling, or moral exertion. Be the feel-
ings, therefore, of any, after their arrival to a
capacity of moral difcernment, as they may,
they are not the perceptions of tlie workings of
their nature when they firft came into beino-.
They may, by this time, have made themfelves
the fubjeds, in a lefs or greater degree, of
moral corruption s and, if they ihould feel the

workings

172 DISSERTATION IIL

workings of it, it would be nothing flrange j
but no more could be argued from hence than
this, that they are now morally corrupt crea-
tures; not that they were fo the firft moment
they came into the world. They may know,
and with ail certainty, from the present work-
ings of corruption, which they have the aflual
perceptions of, that they are at present pol-
luted 'y but that their nature was, at firll, in the
fimple Rate in which it was communicated, thus
polluted, is what they do not feel, ever did, or
ever could.

It is fald ialfo, the general prevalence of fin^i
from the days of Adam, through all fuccefTive
generations, to this day, is a fure argument in
proof of our bringing into the world with us a
morally depraved or finful riature. How elfe
can it be accounted for, that the " v/orld fhould
lie in wickednefs," as has been the cafe all along
from the beginning? It is readily owned, the
wickednefs of mankind has been, and now is,
awfully great and general j and this, notwith-
Itanding all the preventive methods of heaven,
vpon the plan of grace through Chrift: though,
perhaps, fome may have been betrayed into a
like midake with that of the prophet Elijah,
who fuppofed the idolatry of the people of Ifrael
was fo univerfal, that he was left the alone wor-
Ihipper of Jehovah, the one true and living God^
•while yet the real t;ruth v/as, that God hacj

among

DISSERTATION III. 17 j

among that people feven thoufand, who had not
bowed the knee to Baal. There has beenj with-
out all doubt, a number of truly pious holy
imen, in all ages, fince the lapfc. What propor-
tion this nuniber has borne to the innpious and
unfandtified, is known, with exadnefs, to God
only. So far as we are able to judge, from the
pad hiftory, and prcfent ftate of the world, ic
may, I believe, be faid in general, that the
righteous have been few in comparifon with the
wicked. But the wickednefs of the wicked,
however great or general, is no argument that
we are born with morally depraved or fmful na-
ture. Neither Adam, nor Eve, were created
finfulj and yet they both fell by tranfgreflion :
which is a demondrative proof, that there may
be the commifiion of fin, without a previoufly
fuppofed corrupted nature. It will, doubtlefs,
be fuggcfted here, the created finlefs beings in
our world were only two : whereas, fince their
lapfe, in the fcveral fuccefllve periods of time,
finful men have been vailly numerous. And
how fhould fuch valt numibers exhibit fuch plen-
tiful evidence of their being finful creatures, if
they did not come into being with Hnful natures?
The anfwer is obvious. If two only, v/ithout an
originally finful nature, might be overcome by
temptation to violate the law of their Maker, the
fame thing was equally pofTible for two more,
and fo on to any aHigned number. No reafon
can be given, why it mud have been otherwife.

174 DISSERTATION III.

And, it is the truth of fa6t, fo far as we may
eive credit to revelation, that thoufands and ten
thoufands of originally created finlefs beings, re-
belled againft the God who brought them into
cxiftence. The angels that finned were at firft
angels of light, and yet they made themfelves
devils, and in nuaibers awfully great. We are
told, that a legion of them were in one man
only, in the days of our Saviour Jefus Chrift.
The general wickednefs of mankind may as
eafily, perhaps much more eafily, be ac-
counted for without the fuppofition of a pre-
vioufly finful nature. The plain truth is, neither
angels nor men, Adam or his pofterity, were'
made impeccable creatures. The polTibility,
therefore, of their making themfelves finners, is
effentially founded in their original conftitution,
as fallible mutable creatures. Whether we can or
cannot point out, with precifion, how that which
was poffihk becomes a^iialy is a matter of- no
great importance j though it certainly is, that
we do not impofe upon ourfelves or others, an
account of this matter that isfalfe-, as would be
the cafe, if we (hould afcribe the wickednefs of
men, fince the lapfe, to a finful nature com-
municated to them with their exiftence. For
this would be grofsly abfurd in itfelf, and
an utter inconfiftency with the whole moral
fyftem.

It is flill faid, in proof of our being born with a
morally corrupt nature, that this is one of the firfl

things

DISSERTATION III. * ,75

things made manifed in the temper and condufl of
little children. It is acknowledged, that children,
very early, difcover their being the lubjeds of
various appetites, paflions, and affedions, by
their various, and, many times, undefirable ex-
ertions. But none, furely, will pretend, that
their nature is finful merely, or only, becaufe it
is endued with appetites and pafTions : for they
were implanted in Adam at his firft creation,
and his poflerity come into being the fubjeds of
them, for wife and valuable ends, which could
not have been fo well anfwered without them.
The finfulnefs,^ therefore, of thefe appetites does
not lie in their fimple exiftence as tranfmitted to
us, nor yet in any exertions of them, till we
become adual agents, and obliged as fuch, in
duty to God, to keep them under due govern-
ment. This little children are abfolutely in-
capable of. They are not, at prefent, moral
agents ; and God only knows, with any deforce
of certainty, how long it is before they are fo :
let therefore their difcoveries in their nonage,
or wilfulnefs, peevifhnefs, pailion, or any thino-
elfe that is difagreeable, be as they may, they
are ejfentially wanting in that which will deno-
minate them finful; and this is, a prefenc
capacity for moral agency. Nothing they either
think, or fay, or do, can partake of the fiature
of fin, till they are arrived to an ability of moral
difcernment, and to fuch a degree as to be ac-
countable for their condud as moral agents.

Ic

,76 DISSERTATION III.

It would not be a needlefs digreffion, if t
fhould add here, as the natural operation of our
implanted appetites and affedions takes place,
before our mental powers are got to a Hate
wherein it is pofllble this operation fhould be
morally reftrained and governed, there is great
danger left, in after-life, the appetites and paf-
fions fhould have the chief fway over us. It
may be principally owing to this, that fuch
numbers among mankind turn out corrupt, fin-
ful creatures. This, to be fure, will much
better account for the general wickednefs of the
World, than any are able to account for the difo-
bedience of two perfe(flly intelligent, and per-
fe6lly holy creatures, in a cafe wherein they
JTjight, fo far as appears, have eafily withftood
the temptation they were afTaulted with, and
retained their integrity. Some, perhaps, may
be difpofed to complain of the eftablifhed method
of our growing from infancy to a flate of a6lual
moral agency. They m.ay be ready to think, it
would have been better, if, according to the
fettled courfe of nature, our mental powers
might fooner have come to fuch fttength and
vigour, as that the exercife of the appetites and
paflions fhould have been reftrained and governed
by them. The apcftolic folemn check, re-
corded in Romans, ix. 20. is properly appli-
cable here, " Who art thou, O man, that thou
replieft againfr God ! Shall the thing formed fay
to him who formed it. Why haft thou made me

thus?"

DISSERTATION III. 177

thus?** A fmall degree of modedy, one would
think, might be ilifficient to keep men, " who
are of yefterday, and know comparatively no^
thing,*' from finding fault with the work of that
being, who is infinite in underftanding, as well
as in benevolence and righteoufnefs. And there is
lefs reafon for complaint here, as the all-wife good
God has committed the guardianfliip of children,
during their growth to a mature flate, to parents;
enjoining it on them, as their indifnenfable duty,
to exercife that moral government over them, they
are incapable of with refpecl to themfelves. Pa-
rents, it is true, may, by their negligence, inat-
tention, and in ways ftill more criminal^ be the
faulty occafion of children's being habituated to
live and ad under the influence of the flefh, in
oppofition to the mind. And it is a great un*-
happinefs to children, and as great a fault ia
parents, when they are negledted, and fuiTered,
as they grow in years, to grow in bondage to
appetite and pafllon ; their flate of trial for ano-
ther world will, on this account, be rendered far
more difficult and hazardous, than it would
otherwife have been ; though, after all the crimi-
nal negledls, or pofitively faulty influence of
parents, and contraded bad habits in children
hereupon, it remains a certain and mod com-
fortable truth, that they may, in confequcnce of
the plan of grace through Chrill, be delivered
from whatever bondage they may have been
brought into by corruption. Though they
N Ihouia

178 DISSERTATION III.

(hduld have been " the fervants of fin,*' they
may become " the fervants of God," and " have
their fruit unto holinefs, the end whereof will be
cverlafting life.'*

It is faid yet further, there are many pafTages
in the facred books, which clearly and fully
teach the dodrine of a corrupt finful nature,
as derived from Adam to all his pofterity, in
confequence of his lapfe. This has often been
pretended 5 but the produced texts, faid to teach
this, are far from containing fo grofs an abfur-
dity. It would take up too much room to be par-
ticular in feverally examining thefe texts 5 and it
'might be thought needlefs, as they have been fo
repeatedly fet in a juft and unexceptionable
light. However, it may not be improper to
take a brief notice of fuch of them as are fup-
pofed to be mod flrikingly conclufive.

One of this fort is Job, xiv. 4. " Who can
bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? not one/*^
It is not eafy to conceive, how any could cite
thefe words as a convincing proof of a finful na-
ture derived from Adam with cxiftence itfelf,
unlefs it be firfl: fuppofed, that they had previ-
oufiy imbibed, and were ftrongly prepoiTefled
in favour of this fentiment. The quoted words
are, at firfl fight, a proverbial general faying,
the particular, more fpecial fcnfe of which, as
here ufed, can be afcertained in no way, but by
the nature of the difcourfe of which it is a part,
and to illuftrate which it -is brought. The
i rjueftion

DISSERT ATI ON IIL 179

queftion then is, to whatpurpofe is it introduced
by Job? What is its connexion with the point he
is upon? Whoever will confult the preceding and
following words, can be at no lofs to determine,
that it relates wholly to man's frailty as a mortal
creature. It mud, therefore, be here ufed as a
known common mode of fpeech, importing ia
general, that the thing produced muft: be as that
is from whence it proceeds. As if it had been
faid, man that is born of a woman is a poor, frail,
mortal creature. And how fhould it be other-
wife, fince, from the general proverb, «^ a clean
thing cannot proceed from unclean," it appears,
that as is the fourc^, fo mufl: be the derivation
from it? We proceed from thofe that are frail
and mortal; it is, therefore, no other than may
be expetfted, that we fhould be fo too. It is ob-
fervable, moral uWcleanness is no part of the
fubjeft Job is upon in this place: nor, if it had>
would the proverb he brings to view have been to
his purpofe. For uncleannefs, confidered in a
Moral fenfe, cannot proceed naturally from pa-
rents to children. They may be, as in fadt they
really are, inftruments in conveying exiilence;
but they cannot convey with it moral unclean-
nefs, becaufe this is infeparable from moral
agency in the perfons themfelves, who are the
fubje(5ts of it. To fuppofe oth^rwife would be to
contradict all the ideas we have of the nature of
fin,

N a Another

i8o DISSERTATION llL

Another text we are turned to is Pfalm li. JJ
" Behold, I was fhapen in iniquity, and in fm
did my mother conceive me." It would be
abfurd to fay, that David, in the latter part of
this paflage, had it in view to reprefent his mo-
ther as a filthy woman, as fhe muft have been, if,
literally fpeaking^ he had been " conceived in
fin." The abfurdity would be much greater,
if it (hould be fuppofed, that he ought to be un-
derftood according to the ftridnefs of the letter^
when he fpeaks, in the former part of the fen-
tence, of his being " (hapen in iniquity." By
whom was he fhapen ? His own fenfe of the
matter is exprelled in that addrefs to God, Pfalm
cxix. 73. " Thy hands have made me, and fa-
fhioned me." And again, Pfalm cxxxix. i^,
14. " Thou haft covered me in my mother's
womb, 1 will praife thee, for I am fearfully
and wonderfully made." In thy book, «^ were
all my members written, which in continuance
were fafhioned, when as yet there was none of
them?" "Will any now imagine that David
could mean, in the text before us, to reprefent
God as the being that *' (haped him in ini-
quity?" And, had he made him with a corrupt
finful nature, would he, from heart-felt gratitude,
have praifed him herefor ? It would reflect
highly on him to fuppofe fuch a thing.

Whether the words in difpute are well ren-
dered in our Englifh Bibles, or whether they
might be better tranflated, '^ I was born in ini-^

quity.

DISSERTATION III. i8i

quity, and nurfed by my mother in fin,'* is a
matter of no great importance. In either way
of tranflation they are certainly an hyperbolical
mode of diclion, ftrongly exprefnve of David*s
early attachment to finful indulgences, through
the unreftrained influence of his natural appetites,
paflions, and affedions. What he here laments
may be explained by that prayer of his, Pfalm
XXV. 7. which he utters in fimple plain language;
** Remember not the fins of my youth, nor my
tranfgrefllons." It may be worthy of our no-
tice, like figurative ways of fpeaking are common
in Scripture. Says Job, in mentioning his bene-
volent cafe of the widow, chap. xxxi. 18. '^ I have
guided her from my mother's womb." Accord-
ing to the flridnefs of the letter, thefe words do
not contain the truth: for it was not pofllble he
fhould be a guide to the widow, till he had
arrived to a capacity of being fo, David himfelf
ufes the fame figure, Pfalm Iviii. 3. where he
fays, " The wicked are efi:ranged from the womb j
they go aftray as foon as they are born, fpeak-
ing lies," He could not here mean, that the
wicked told lies before they had attained to an
ability of ufing their tongues to the purpofes of
fpeech. The language, therefore, is figurative,
importing only an aggravation of their wicked-
nefs-, for that they were prone to " fpcak lies'^
from their early days. The fame figure ftill is
ufed by the prophet Ifaiah, chap. Iviii. 8. where,
fpeaking of the people of Ifrael, he fays, they
N 3 v/erc

182 DISSERTATION III,

were *^ called tranfgrefTors from the womb-,'*
that is, foon after their political exiftence. They
had fcarce been formed into a nation before they
tranfgreded. The penitential acknowledgment
of David is evidently exprefied in the like figu-
rative language. It would be as grofsly abfurd to
fuppofe, literally fpeaking, that he was " fhapen
in iniquity, and conceived in fin,'* as to fay of the
wicked, that they could ** fpeak lies" before they
could fpeak at all j or of a benevolent man, that
he could be a " guide to the widow,'* before he
could, in any fenfe, be a guide either to himfelf
or any one elfe. Befides what has been already
faid, it may be proper to obferve, it would be
very extraordinary to fuppofe, that David, while
^conferring and lamenting his fins before God, in
all their aggravating circumftances, fhould, in the
midft of this penitential exercife, refle<fl the blame
of his finfulnefs on God, inftead of taking it
wholly to himfelfj which would certainly be the
truth of the matter, if he is brought in telling his
Maker, he was '^ (haped in iniquity, and con-
ceived in fin;" underftanding the words in their
literal fenfe: whereas, if they are interpreted
figuratively, as carrying in them this meaning,
that he had even, from his early days, been ad-
dicted to fin, through the prevalence of his natu-
ral appetites, it would perfedly fall in with the
grand bufinefs he was now engaged in, that of
confefilng and bewailing his part: fms. It was
highly fit and proper he ihould, upon this occa-

fion.

DISSERTATION III. i8^

fion, look back to former iniquities, even thofe
of youth and childhood, from a deep fenfe of
fhame and guilt.

Another text ftill, that has often been men-
tioned in proof of our coming into the world
with a corrupt finful nature, is Eph. ii. i, 2, 3.
This text 1 fliould have pafled over^ it is fo litcle
to the purpofe for which it is brought, but that I
was willing to take this occafion to give what 1
judge to be the mod obvious and undoubted
meaning, not only of the whole paiTage, but of
thofe words in it in fpecial, " and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others." The apo-
flle, that he might afFed the hearts of the Flphe-
fian Chriftians with an admiring Ccni'e of the
^' rich mercy and great love wherewith God had
loved them," turns their view back, not to what
they were when they firft came into exiftence, but:
to what they had been in after-life, before
their faith in Chrift, Says he, fpeaking of fuch
of them as were converts from Gentilifm, ** Yc
were dead in trefpalTes and fins, wherein, in
time paft, ye walked according to the courfc
of this world J according to the prince of the
power of the air, the fpirit that now worketh in
the children of difobedience.** He then add-s
with reference to himfelf, and thofe who were be-
lieving Jews, '^ among whom alfo we had bur
converfation in times paft in the lufts of our
fiefh, fulfilling the defires of the flefli and the
mind, and were by nature the chiklren hC

N 4 wrath^

i84 DISSERTATION IIL

wrath, even as others/' There is not a word
in this whole paOage that can he applied to
thofe converts, either from Gentilifm or Judaifm^
confidered limply in the (late in which they ftrtl
exifted. Their charader is wholly drawn from
their condud in life, after they became capable
of a vicious courfe of " walking in luft/' of hav-
ing their *^ converfation according to the defires
of the flefh," And, having thus made themfelves
morally corrupt, and to an high degree of guilt,
^^ they were b-y nature the children of wraths"
that is, judging of their cafe upon the principles
of mere nature, they had rendered themfelves the
objedts of Divine wrath. It is obfervable, the apo-^
ftie does not fay, '^ We are by nature the chil-
dren of wrath^" but we werej; that is, in con-
sequence of a paft, wicked, and fenfual courfe of
life. He could not have ufed words rnore di-
redly and fcrongly fitted to convey this fentiment,
that their being *^ children of wrath'' was owing
to their having been perfonaliy the '' children of
difobedience/' and as fuch the meet objeds of
the righteous difpleafure of Heaven j which w^s
fo evident, that it might be clearly known from
*' nature,'* the *' law written on man's heart,"
without any help from fupernatural revelation.
*' We were by nature the children of wrath, even
as others." As if thp apoftle had faid, we who
are now believing Jews had, *' in times paft," fo
indulged to the lufts of the flefh and mind, and
rn^de ourfclves fuch heinous finners, that we rnight

certainly

DISSERTATION III. 185

certainly conclude, from the law of nature only,
that, in common with the like finful Gentiles, and
as truly as they, we had rendered ourfelves juftly
obnoxious to the wrath of Almighty God. This
meaning of the apoftle gives the original word
PHusis, NATURE, Its proper full force, is fo obvi-
ous at the firft glance, and fo perfedly falls in
with the whole difcourfe with which it is con-
nected, that one can fcarce help wondering it has
not been univerfally perceived and adopted ;
efpecially if it be remembered, that this fame
apoftle has told us, that " the work of the law,
NATURALLY wrote on man's heart, fhews itfelf
by the witnefs of confcience," in accufing and
condemning, as well as excufing: infomuch,
that thofe who have no other law than that of mere
nature, may ^' know that they who commit fuch
fins are worthy of death," defcrving of God's
wrath, Rom. i. 32. and ii. 14, i ^y compared.
When, therefore, he is fpeaking, in the pafTage
before us, of thofe who had been abominably dif-
obedienc by their own perfonal tranfgrefilons of
the Divine law; and then fays, they " were by
nature the children of wrath," what more eafy,
intelligible, and confiftent meaning, can his
words be taken in than this, that they had, judg-
ing of their cafe upon the principles of mere na-
ture, the diftates of common reafon, made them-
felves " children of wrath/'

It is faid yet further, the numerous texts of
Scripture which affirm the neceffity of men's

being

x86 DISSERTATION III.

being " born again," of their being made *^new
creatures/* of their being "anew the workman-
fhip of God created in Chrift Jefus/* in order to
their admiffion into the kingdom of heaven, are
fo many clear, (Irong, and full proofs, of our be-
incy born at firft with a corrupt and finful nature.
Far from denying the dodrine of the '' new
birth," I entirely acquiefce in it as a Scripture
one, highly important, andclofely connected with
falvation; infomuch that there cannot be the
latter without the former. But where is the ne-
celTity of grafting this do6lrine upon a finful na-
ture, communicated with our beings upon our firft
coming, into exiftence? The Bible teaches us no
fuch thing. It is, indeed, the invention of man^^
and not a dedu6tion from the word of God.

The ftate of the cafe is plainly this: as we firft
come into being, we are nothing more than crea-
tures of the human kind, in diftindion from every
other. Our powers are naked capacities only,
which, as they gradually unfold and gain ftrength,
will, by their good or bad improvement, acquire
different moral qualities, giving us an anfwerable
different charader. If our natural powers are
neglected, mifim proved, and turned afide from
their proper ufe, we become morally corrupt, or
finful ; but if they are cultivated and improved to
our attaining an actual likeness to God, in
knowledge, righteoufnefs, and true holinefs, we
have now a new nature fuperinduced, and may,
figuratively fpeaking, be faid to be new-born

creatures*

DISSERTATION III. 187

creatures. It is a miftake, and a very great one,
to fay that we muft be born into the world with a
corrupt finful nature, in order to give fenfe to
what the Scripture means by the ** lecond birth.*'
The idea it would convey by this metaphor, is
that acquirement which makes men a5lual livmg
images of God, as being the fubjeds of thofe mo-
ral qualities vvhich are included in his chara6leras
HOLY. They are not, upon their firft being born,
the fubje6ls of this likenefs; but they have, in
their nature, a capacity for its fuperindudlion:
and whenever it is fuperinduced, they are the
perfons of whom it may be faid, and in Scripture
a6Vually is faid, that they are " born again;"
and with great propriety, for they are now in the
j;2or<3/ fenfe, as truly new-born creatures, as, in the
natural fenfe, they v/ere born at fird. There is
not the leaft need of a fuppofed original finful
nature, in order to give meaning, and an highly
important one, to what the Scripture calls the
fecond birth; and it is, without all doubt, a real
truth, that fome among the " born again" were
never the fubjeds of reigning depravity, either
natural or acquired. In confequcnce of a good
education, animated by the fuperintending influ-
ence of the Divine fpirit, they became poireiTed
of thofe morally good qualities, on account of
which men are called the *' born of God," the
*^ born a fecond rime;" and this, before they had
acquired that flate of mind which would have
^ade them the " fervants of corruption." Noc

that

i88 DISSERTATION III.

that this is a common cafe. Generally fpeaking,
the appetites and pafTions firft bear fway, and
gain flrength, fo as that our nature becomes mo-^
rally corrupt, or finful, before we are God's chil-
dren by being " born again." In all inftances
of this kind, the new-birth is a change, not merely,
or only from our nature in the fimple flate in
which it was tranfmitted to us, but from our na-^
ture, as having had fuperinduced on it thofe
qualities that are morally corrupt or finful. And
from hence many have been led to fuppofe, that
that finfulnefs that has been fuperinduced upon
pature, is a finfulnefs of nature we are all born
with J and that the new-birth takes rife from na^
tive depravity, corruption coeval with our firft
cxitlence. But this would be to ground fo greaC
and good a work as the " new man," the " new-
born creature," upon a non-entity; for we are
not more fure of any thing than this, that there
cannot be moral depravity, or finfulnefs, where
there is no prefent capacity for moral agency, as
is infallibly the cafe with refped to every defcend-
ant from Adam, when he firft comes into be-
ing*

The plain truth is, a likenefs to God in his
moral charader is, efifentiuUy, the idea the Scrip-
ture v/ould convey by the metaphor of a " new
birth." And this likenefs may be an acquire-
ment either previous to, or confequent upon, a
moral depravity or finfulnefs of nature. la
fome, though comparatively few, ic actually i^

DISSERTATION III. i8^

an attainment previous to, and preventive of, that
bondage to corruption, which denominates mert
the children, not of God, but of the evil one.
In others, and by far the mod, it is a fuperin-
dudlion upon their nature after they had, as
agents, introduced into it thofe vicious qualities,
on account of which they might juftly be called
morally corrupt or finful creatures. But in no
inflances whatever does the '* new birth," take
rife from moral corruption co-exiftent with mian's
nature, as at firft derived j for, in this fimple,
naked (late, it is not a capable fubjed: of moral
corruption, though capable, by mifimprovement,
of being made morally corrupt; or, by a due cul-
ture, under the Divine influence, of attaining
that likenefs to God which denominates men his
children, as being figuratively ^' born'* or
" created again/' The facred books, indead
of interfering with this reprefcntation of the mat-
ter, perfectly harmonife with it.

It would be an omifTion if I did not add here,
that the fuperinducing upon our nature, as at
firft tranfmitted to us, an adual likenefs to God
in his moral glory, is the refult of that new dif-
penfation of grace mankind were placed under
after the original lapfe; for which reafon it may,
with emphatical propriety, be defcribed by our
being '* born again," by our becoming " new
creatures," and the like. And as this new dif-
penfation we are under is founded in Chrid, and
has him at its head with the Holy Ghoft as his

agenti

190 DISSERTATION III.

agent-, it is with equal propriety that we are faid
to be " born of the fpirit/' to be the '* work-
manfliip of God created in Ghrift Jefus." Only
it ihould be rennembered> when the Scripture
fpeaks of the " new-born creature,'* the " new
man created in Chrift/' the mode of didion is
figurative. We are, in a phyfical fenfe, the fame
creatures after the '^ new. birch," or the *^ new
creationj" we were before. No new faculty is
added to our nature; but whatever is done in this
work, is done upon thofe powo's we at firll
brought into the world with us. A moral alter-
ation only is effedled in us; and this is cffe6led in
a way adapted to our chara6ler as men, or, what
means the lanne thing, intelligent moral agents.
God, it is true, by the influence of the Divine
fpirir, has the main hand in forming the charac-
ter which gives the denomination of " new men
in Chrift;" but, in the doing of this, he conli-
ders us as naturally endowed with the feveral
powers of thinking, refleding, willing, choofing,
refufing, hoping, fearing, loving, hating, and
the like, and accordingly deals with us as fuch by
co-operating all thefe powers in the ufe of means
fuitably adjufted to their nature. He does not
make men his children by regeneration without
the ufe of their own faculties, neither does he
form them to his own moral likenefs by giving
them any phyfically new faculties, or by deftroying
or making any phyfical change in their old ones;
but accomplifhes his plcafurc in them by accom-
modating

DISSERTATION III. ijt

rnodating his agency to their proper make and
conftitution. The Bible always fets the matter
in this point of light. And this method of a6l-
ing exhibits the true reafon, and the only confid-
ent intelligible one, of the creation of the go-
fpel kingdom, v/ith its various means, helps, pri-
vileges, motives, and blefTmgs.

I have now offered what may be thought fufE-
cient to make it evident, that we do not come into
exiftence with a morally corrupt or finful nature:
nor, may I pertinently add here, is our nature, as
tranfmitted to us, fo deftitute of all capacity for
that which is morally good, as that a native to-
tal corruption of heart becomes hereupon univer-
fal, without the exception of a finglc defcendant
from the one man Adam, This, of late, appears
to be the fentiment of fome, who v^ould be
thought to be more confident and refined Calvin-
ifts than their brethren. Says one% in this way
of reprefenting the matter, *' In order to account
'^ for a finful corruption of nature, yea, a total
" native depravity of the heart of man, there is
" not the lead heed of foppofmg any evil quality
*' infufed, implanted, or inwrought into the na-
** ture of man, by any pofitive caufe or inBuence
** whatever, either from God, or the creature;
*• or of fuppofmg, that m.an is conceived and
** born with a fountain of evil in his heart, fuch
** as is any thing pofitive.'* How, then, poIFibly

* Mr. Edwards, on '* Original Sin," page 317,

can

iS^ DISSERTATION llh

can be a " total native depravity of heart" irt
the children of Adam, or, in other words, how
they fhould come into being morally corrupt or
fiuful, and totally fo, without any pofitive influ-
ence either of God or man, is a fecret this author
has not feen fit to reveal, and it will, without all
doubt, remain a myftery to the end of time.
Befides, by affirming, as he does*, with great
peremptorinefs, that the dodlrine of original fin
'^ neither implies or infers any corruption in-
" fufed into the human nature by pofitive influ-
*' ence, or any quality, taint, tinfture, or infec-
*' tion, altering the natural conftitution, facul-
*' ties, and difpofitions of our fouls," he direclly
contradids the dodlrine of " native univerfal cor-
ruption of heart," as received, preached, and
ft renuou fly pleaded for by Calvinifts of the high-
efl: rank for learning, and other qualities, natural
or acquired. But what is his peculiarity upon
this point? Take it in his own words. Sayshef,
** I think a little attention to the nature of
** things will be fufficient to fatisfy any impartial
*' confiderate enquirer, that the abfence of pofi-
*^ tive good principles, and fo the with-holding
*^ of a fpecial Divine influence to impart and
*' maintain thofe good principles, leaving the
*' common natural principles of felf-love, natu-
*^ ral appetite, &c. fwhich were in man in inno-

* Mr. Edwards, on " Original Sin," psge 316. 517.
t Ibid.

<« ccnce)

DISSERTATION IIL 193

*« cence) leaving thefe, I fay, to themfelves with-
'f out the government of fuperior Divine prin-
" ciples, will certainly be followed with the cor-
" ruption, yea, the total corruption of the
*^ heart, without occafion for any pofitive influ-
*^ ence at all: and yet it was thus, indeed, that
" corruption of nature came on Adam immedi-
*' ately on his fall, and comes on all his pofterity
<* as finning in him, and falling with him.**
This is his notion. But he goes on more parti-
cularly to open and explain it. Says he*, " The
" cafe with man was plainly this: when God
'f made man at firft, he implanted in him two
*' kinds of principles : There was an inferior
*' kind, which may be called natural, being
" the principles of mere human nature; fuch as
** felf-love, with thofe natural appetites and paf-
** fions which belong to the nature of man, in
" which his love to his own liberty, honour, and
*« pleafure, were exercifed: thefe, when alone,
'^ and left to themfelves, are what the Scriptures
" fometimes call flesh. Befides thefe, there
were fupmor principles that were fpiritual,
holy, and divine, fummarily comprehended in
Divine love; wherein confided the fpiritual
image of God, and man's righteoufnefs, and
true holinefsj which are called in Scripture
" the Divine nature, Thefe principles may, in
** fome fenfe, be called supernatural, being

* Mr. Edwards, on** Original Sip,*' pagfs 317, 318, 319.

O «< (how-

<c

i>t

194 DISSERTATION III.

*^ (however concreated or connate) fuch as are
" above thofe principles that are eflentially im-
'^ pHed in, or necefTarily refulting from, and in-
** feparably connefled with, mere human nature-,
** and being fuch as immediately depend on
" man's union and communion with God, or
'* divine communications and influences of God*s
'' fpiritj which, though withdrawn, and man's
*« nature forfaken of* thefe principles, human
*' nature would be human nature ftilh man's na-
*' ture, as fuch, being entire without thefe divine
*' principles, which the Scripture fometimes calls
** SPIRIT, in contradiflindlion to flesh. Thefe
*^ fttperior principles were given to pofTefs the
" throne, and maintain an abfolute dominion in
*** the heart: the other, to be wholly fubordinate
" and fubfervient. When man finned, and broke
" God's covenant, and fell under his curfc, thefe
" fiiperior principles left his heart: and thus man
" was left in a flate of darknefs, woeful corrup-
*^ tion, and ruin, nothing hut flejh without fpirit,
" It were eafy to Ihew how every lull and de-
•* piaved difpofition would naturally arife from
*' privative original, if here were room for it.
" Only God's withdrawing, as it w^ere highly
*f proper and neceffary he fhould, from rebel
" man, being, as it were, driven away by his
" abominable wickednefs, and man's natural
*' principles being left to themfelves, this is fuffi-
*' cientto account for his becoming entirely cor-
" rupt, and bent on finning againft God, And

'* as

DISSERTATION III. ig^

" as Adam's nature became corrupt, without
*' God's implanting or infufing any evil thing
*< into his nature, fo does the nature of his
" pofterity. God dealing with Adam as the
** head of his pofterity (as has been fhewn), and
** treating them as one^ he deals with his pofte-
*^ rity as having ail finned in him. And, there-
" fore, as God withdrew fpiritual communion,
f^ and his vital influences from the common
" head, fo he withholds the fame from all the
** members, as they come into exiflence^
«' whereby they come into the world mere/*^,
*' and entirely under the government of natural
*' and inferior principles ; and fo become wholly
** corrupt as Adam did."

This Hate of the cafe, far from being fetched
cither from reafon or revelation, is utterly in-
confiftent with both.

As to Adam : — Where are we told in the
facred books, that the created principles by
which he was enabled to love, honour, and obey
his Maker, were supernatural, any more than
his other principles, either bodily or mental ?
The principles he was formed with were, without
all doubt, different in their kind, fome fuperior,
others inferior ; as it was proper they ihould be,
becaufe defigned for different ends ; fome higher,
others lower. But let their fuperiority or infe-
riority be as it may, they were equally natural
to him as a creature of fuch an order in the fcale
of beings. Nay, if Adam, upon his being
O 2 brought

196 DISSERTATION III.

brought into exiftence, was obliged to behave
with all dutiful reverence and fubmifTion to his
Creator, he mud previpufly have had implanted
in his nature fuch principles as would render this
fervice perfornnable by him. It is a contradic-
tion to all the ideas we have of that which is
right and fit, to fuppofe otherwife. His being
under obligations to duty, and principles in
his nature making it poflible for him to per-
form it, were abfolutely neceflary concomitants,
Thofe fuperior principles, therefore, in confe-
quence of which he might pay homage to his
God, were no more supernatural, than his
appetites, paflions, afFedions, or arhy other prin-
ciples of his nature: they were essential to him
as a moral agent, placed under moral obligations
to the Deity. It lay wholly with God to choofe,
whether he would make him at all, or what fore
of creature he would make him ; but if he faw
fit to make him a being of whom he required,
and from whom he expected, the return of love,
gratitude, and conftant obedience, it was in it-
fclf right, yea abfolutely neceflary, that he
lliould endue his nature with principles, rendering
it poflible for him to do what was thus expefted
and required of him. Had he created him with-
out the natural organs of fight or hearing, could
he have been obliged to perceive the difference
between colours and founds, or to have had in
his mind fo much as the idea of either ? It would
be equally abfurd to fay, he could be bound to

love

DISSERTATION III. 197

love and honour God, if he had not been formed
with a capacity in his nature fitting him herefor.
Such a capacity, upon fuppofition of fuch obli-
gation, is rather a matter of juftice than of grace,
Without the former, the latter would be morally
wrong, unfit, unjufl.

A diftindlion ought always to be made between
Adam's implanted powers, and the ufe or exer-
cife of them. His well ufing or abufing thefe
powers, fuperior or inferior y did not give him the
denomination of man^ that is, a creature of fuch
a rank in the order of being : but it was £ssen-
TiAL to his being thus denominated, that his
nature Ihould be endued with principles that
would render it poffible for him to conduct him-
felf conformably to what was required of him.
Such principles were neceffary ingredients in his
conftitution as man, and infeparable from it ;
infomuch that he could not have exifted a crea-
ture of this rank or kind without them. His
approving himfelf a good man, or becoming a
bad one, was dependent on the ufe he fhould
make of his implanted principles ; but he could
not have been a creature under moral obligations
to love and ferve his Maker, if no principles
had been implanted in his nature; in confequence
of which this would have been a performable
duty : nor, would I further fay, does it appear
from the facred books, or elfewhere, that God,
even after his lapfe, ever withdrew from him,
meaning hereby his leaving his nature entirely
O 3 devoid

19^ DISSERTATION III.

devoid of thefe efifcntially necefifary principles.
It would be highly unreafonable in itfelf, and
greatly difhonorary to the all-wife, righteous, and
benevolent Ruler of the world, to fuppofe fuch a
thing, if it be at the fame time fuppofed, that he
faw fit to continue him in being under like moral
obligations to do duty to him. Surely, if Adam
had been divefled of that capacity in his nature,
that principle, or whatever other name any may
pleafe to give it, without which it would have
been as impoflibleforhim to love and honour the
Deity, as to fee without having eyes, or to hear
without having ears; he never would, he never
reafonably could, upon being deprived of this
capacity, have had this required of him. God
might, it is true, upon the offence he had com-
mitted, have immediately turned him out of
exiflence, as he threatened he would s the tffc6t
whereof would have been the total lofs of all his
principles, bodily and mental, and of all his ob-
ligations : but he faw fit, notwithftanding his
lapfe, to continue him in being (though under a
fentence of death), and with the fame natural
effential principles he was endued with before his
fall. The facred books, far from fuggefting any
thing to the contrary, diredly lead us to think
thus of the matter. The new ftate of trial he was
placed under, in order to his reigning in eternal
life after death, is clearly, I may fay effentially,
eonneded herewith. To fay that he now exiftcd
devoid of all capacity in his nature to do what

was

DISSERTATION III, 199

was required under this nrw flate, would be as
abfurd and unreafonable, as it was in the tafk-
maftcr of Egypt to require " the full tale of
brick >vithout giving any flraw." Had there
been, upon Adam's lapfe, a total withdraw of
that faculty, principle, or capacity in his na-
ture, without which a compliance with the de-
mands of the new eftablilhment he was under
would have been impoflible, it muft have been
reftored, or it would have been palpably abfurd
to hav€ made fuch demands. To require that
of a creature, though fallen, if placed under a
new trial upon the foot of grace, which he has
no principle in his nature, no faculty rendering
it pofllble for him to perform, is, in the moral
fenfe, abfolutely wrong, and muft intuitively
appear to be fo to all who have not perverted
their underftandings. To reprefent Adam,
therefore, as left deftitute of thofe fu-perior prin-
ciples in his nature, the total abfence of which,
even under that difpenfation of grace in which he
was placed, muft have been followed with a total
corruption of heart, and impoftibility of doing
any thing that could be pleafing to his Maker, is
a bafe flander injurioufly refledled on the good
God ; and the more fo, as it is entirely the refult
of a vain imagination, and not the didate either
of reafon or Scripture.

What has been faid with reference to Adam,

is equally, to be fure, not lefs forceably, appli-

. gable to his pofterity. It would argue their

O 4 being

20O DISSERTATION III.

being cruelly, I may rather fay unjuflly, dealt
with, to fuppofe, that they come into exiftence
under obligations to attain to a truly virtuous
charadler, under the penalty of eternal ruin,
while they are, at the fame time, fuppofed de^
void of any faculty, or principle in their nature,
in the exercife of which, it would be pofllble
for them, by complying with their obligations,
to efcape this ruin. The entire want, or abfence
of a principle or faculty in their nature, the
effect whereof would unavoidably be a total
corruption in heart and life, and a liablenefs
hereupon to certain remedilefs mifery, is, in
reality of conflrudlion, precifely the fame thing,
as if they had been brought into this wretched
condition by the pofitive infufion of principles
that are corrupt. There is certainly no dif-
ference as to the unavoidablenefs of the event;
Tior is there any, in point of equity, as to the
way in which-this event is effedled. \i they muft
be corrupt creatures, and as fuch expofed to the
vengeance of heaven, it matters not whether,
what is thus unavoidable, takes rife from pofttive
or /)ni;^/ii;^ principles 5 the infufion of thofe that
are bad, or the withholding thofe which would
have made it pofTible they might not have got
into this deplorable ftate. The Scripture, far
from giving this abfurd account of the matter,
is particularly clear and exprefs in afTuring. us,
that the pofterity of Adam, notwithftanding his
lapfe, or any confequences of it, come into e?^-

iftence

DISSERTATION HI. 201

illence under an eftabliihmenc of grace, putting
thenn upon trial for an eternal happy life after
death. It is accordingly declared, in all parts
of the facred books, that they Ihall be dealt
with, in the great day of retribution, conform-
ably to what they have done in the body -, and
that it will be their own fault, not owing to
Adam, or any other being in heaven, or helJ,
or earth, but wholly to themfelves, and the mif-
ufe of the faculties they were endued with, if
they are adjudged to mifery, and not happinefs.
Now the fuppofition only of their being in fuch
a (late of trial is in itfelf an abfurdity, as being
inconfiftent with that which is morally fit and
right, if there is in their nature the total abfence,
or want of a capacity, faculty, or principle,
without which this trial they are placed under,
would unavoidably prove ruinous to them. Is
there any underftanding to which it would not
appear grofsly abfurd to fuppofe, that men Hiould
be put under trial for their perceptions of founds
or colours, if they had no organs planted in their
conftitution, making it pofTible for them either to
hear or fee? The abfurdity is not lefs glaring to
fay, that they come into a world in v/hich they
are under trial as to their being truly virtuous,
when, at the fame time, it is affirmed, that they
have no faculcy, no capacity in their nature, in
the ufe or exercife of which this is pofTible. It is,
indeed, upon fuch a capacity in nature, which
the human kind come into exiflenee endued with,

that

202 DISSERTATION III.

that the fcheme of grace through Chrift h
grounded. It does not fuppofe that any faculty,
or principle, proper to man as a moral, intelli-
gent agent, or that Adam, the firll progenitor,
had implanted in his conftitution, was deftroyed
by the lapfe, either naturally, or by pofitive de-
privation i nor does it make provifion for the
fuperindu6lion of any phyfically new faculty or
capacity in any of the fons of menj but what-
ever it propofes fhould be done, is done upon
faculties or capacities they bring into the world
with exiflence itfelf. It does not lead us to
think, that their becoming vicious, inflead of
virtuous, is owing to the want, or abfcnce, of a
faculty or principle in their nature, without
■which this is abfolutely unavoidable ; but to their
own negligence, folly, and fin, in not making
that ufe of their implanted principles and facul-
ties they might have done, and ought to have
(done, under the helps and advantages they are
favoured with. And, in truth, had they no
faculty or capacity in their nature, in the exer-
cife of which they could, upon the edabiifhment
of grace through Chrifl:, attain the character of
virtuous perfons, the whole gofpel-apparatus of
means, helps, advantages, arguments, and mo-
tives, could be of no more confideration, than
preaching over the graves of men naturally dead
and buried would be, in order to their rifing
alive out of them. There mufl be a capacity,
cr principle in nature, in confequence gf which

men

DISSERTATION III. 203

men may be truly virtuous, or it is impoflible
they fhould be fo. If therefore this capacity is
wanting in human nature, or abfent from it, ic
mud be created and introduced by the almighty
miraculous power of God, or means, motives,
perfuafiotty and the like, will be fo many no-
things. We might as well be without them as
with them. They would have no more influencfc
upon the produ6tion of this faculty, or principle,
than mere founds would have to give life to the
dead in their graves : nor, in this cafe, would
there be a foundation laid in nature either for
blame or punifhment.

The plain truth is, it is always taken for
granted, in the gofpel fcheme of grace, that the
pofterity of Adam come into exiftence with im-
planted capacities, or principles, in the due ufe
of which they may attain to a moral likenefs to
God, and meetnefs for the enjoyment of him ;
and it provides for the help and guidance of
thofe implanted principles, in order to prevent,
in a moral way adapted to the charadler of
moral agents, their becoming " the fervants of
fin •/' or, fhould this be unhappily the cafe, it
affords all needed afTiftance in order to their
being " delivered from the bondage of corrup-
tion into the glorious liberty of the fons of
God." And this it effecls, not by creating a
new underftanding, but by enlightening the old
one ; not by producing any new faculties, but
by feverally applying to old ones, according to

their

204 DISSERTATION III.

their refpedlive natures. Nothing phyfically
new is introduceJ, no power, no principle, no
capacity, by which we difcern, choofe, relilh,
approve, love, or hate, what we could not be-
fore, through the abfence, or want, of a faculty
in our nature herefor. There is indeed no need
of the infufion of any new faculty in order to our
being " new men in Chrift," and interefted, as
fuch, in the promifes of the gofpel-covenant.
The due exercife of thofe naturally planted in
the hunaan conftitution, will be fufficient for the
purpofe i and they may be thus efFeflually exer-
cifed under the helps, means, and advantages
of that kingdom of grace God has created in
our lapfed world.

It will perhaps be faid here, there is no fa-
culty or principle in the nature of Adam's
pofterity, as fuch, to difiinguifh between moral
good and evil, or to perceive the beauty of the
former, and the deformity of the latter, fo as to
approve and relifh the one, and difapprove and
be difgufted at the other. The anfwer is eafy.
The God of nature has fo framed our minds, and
given us fuch a natural power of dirccrnment,
that it mud be owing to fome great huh we
ourfelves are perfonally chargeable with, if we
cannot at once fee the difference between right
and wrong, in the more important points of
moral obligation. Will any man, who has not
ilrangely vitiated his perceptive powers, pretend
that he cannot, or does not fee it to be right

and

DISSERTATION III. 205

and fit, on the one hand, for fuch creatures as
we are, to love, honour, and worfhip the God
who gave us our beings i and, on the other, to
be unfit and wrong to hate him, and behave
with irreverence and undutifulnefs towards hinn ?
Will any man, not deprived of natural reafon,
calnnly and deliberately fay, that he does not at
once fee it to be right, that he ^' fhould do to
others as they ought to do to hinn,*' and wrong
that he fhould do otherwife ? Will any man, not
loft to common fenfe, pretend, that he cannot
fee a difference between honefly and knavery,
kindnefs and cruelty, brotherly love and hatred,
chafticy and lewdnefs, temperance and debauch-
cry ; or that he does not perceive the former to
be amiable lovely virtues, and the latter de-
teftable infamous vices ? The moral difference
between thefe tempers and behaviours is {tlf-
evident to thofe who have not blinded their
eyes, and rendered themfclves not eafily capable
of difcernment. There needs no argumenta-
tion, no feries of intermediate ideas to enable
men to perceive this difference; and that it is,
on the one hand, right; and, on the other,
wrong. The bare mentioning thefe virtues and
vices, provided it be done in intelligible words,
is at once fufficient, not only to enforce convic-
tion, but to excite approbation or difapproba-
tion; unlefs men have, by their own perfonal
folly, perverted the operation of the natural
powers they brought into the world with them.
The true reafon, why they are fo prone to prac-

tife

46« DISSERTATION III.

tife vice rather than virtue, is not bccaufe they
do not difcern a difference between the one and
the other, or becaufe they inwardly approve the
former, and difapprove of the latter; but be-
caufe they are enticed and drawn afide of their
lulls. It is a real and certain truth, in regard
even of wicked men, that they often do that, as
induced thereto by their appetites and paflions,
"which their reafon condemns. They may, by
an habitual indulgence to fenfual gratifications,
become, in time, the willing (laves of corrup-
tion, perceiving little or no ftruggle between
«* the law of their members, and the law of their
mind.'* But this is not the ordinary ftate of
finners. There are comparatively few, very few,
who gratify their lulls, but with fome conteft
between their animal appetites, and the remon-
llrances of their inner man. They give into
thefe and thofe gratifications, not becaufe they
do not perceive them to be unreafonable, but
becaufe their flefhly part gets the better of their
mental. And to this it is owing, that they often
jdo thofe things which are ftrongly difapproved
of by their underftandings : nay, they frequently
hate with their minds thofe adlions they are be-
trayed into by the powerful influence of their
animal inclinations. I doubt not, I here fpeak
the real experience of moft wicked men. It is
indeed the truth refpefling all, who have not by
habitual folly awfully corrupted their natural
powers. By thefe w^ are fitted, not only to

perceive

filSSERTATlON III. 207

perceive moral forms, and the difference be-
tween them, but to feel the beauty and excel-
lency of virtuous ones, and the uglinefs and
deformity of thofe that are vicious. This capacity
has not been deftroyed by the lapfe 5 and it is,
perhaps, impoffible it fhould be totally deftroy-
ed, but by the deftrudlion of the faculty itfelf by
which we perceive at all. It is accordingly the truth
of fad, that men, who, by their perfonal folly, have
awfully vitiated their underltandings, and moral
tafte too, are yet capable of feeing, and feeling,
a beauty and glory in characters that are the re-
verfe of their own. When placed before their
view, in a ftrong point of light, they command
their approbations they cannot but own their
perception of that which is amiable and excellent
in them; though, at the fame time, they are
aftiamed they are not themfelves the fubjedls of
this glory.

Upon the whole of what has been offered, it
appears, that our nature, as tranfmitced from
Adam, is neither morally corrupt, or devoid of
thofe faculties or principles, in the exercife of
which we may, under the means, helps, and ad-
vantages we are favoured with, become the fub-
jedls of thofe qualities, which will prepare us for
honour and immortality in God*s kingdom that is
above: but ftill, it would be greatly befide the
truth to fay, that it is as perfe5f as our firll father
received it from the creating hand of God, and
that we are as able, notwithftanding any difad-
4 vantage

2o8 DISSERTATION III.

vantage that has happened to us, by reafon of his
lapfe, to obey our Maker, as he was in paradife.
This, I am fenfible, is the opinion of fome j buc
it appears to me a great miftake. And I cannon
buc wonder, that thofe fhould fall into it, who
have been much converfant in the apoflle Paul's
writings. His Epiftlcs, in general, and his
Epiltle to the Romans in particular, cannot, as
I imagine, be understood upon any other fuppo-
fition than this, that mankind, in confequence
of the lapfe of the one man Adam, came into
the world under a difadvantageous ftate of nature i
infomuch that It is morally impoflible they
fhould, upon the terms of law, law disjoined from
grace, obtain either the juftification of lifcy or
that meetnefs for heaven^ without which they can-
not have admiflion into that blefled place : and
this I fhall now endeavour to confirm with all
the clearnefs and brevity I can. In order where-
to, let the following things be carefully attended
to:

I. The apoftle Paul, in his Epiftle to the Ro-
mans, has difl:in6lly and largely proved, not that
mankind are totally corrupt in heart and life^ either
by the pcfitive infufion of had principles^ or the
withdrawrae-rd of good ones-, but that, when they
are capable of moral aclion, they will fo far
tranfgrefs the rule, as to be incapable of claim-
ing juftification upon the foot of naked law. The
proof he has exhibited of this, is contained in

the

biSSERTATION III. 209

the three firft chapters of this Epiftle 5 where we
fhali find a very melancholy account of the
degenerate ilate the whole world of nnen, then
confiiting of Jews and Gentiles, had funk into.
It cannot, indeed, with any face of reafon, be
fuppofed, that the charader he here draws of
Jews and Gentiles juftly belonged, in all its
lineannents, to either of thenFi individtially coafi-
dered. There were, without all doubt, among
both thcfe bodies of men, a number, who had
*^ efcaped the pollutions" that were common in
that day " through lull :'* nay, there is no reafoa
to think but that fome, at lead, of the indivi-
duals that conftituted thofe colletlive bodies^ v/erc
really good men, in the gofpel- mitigated fenfe of
the words; but Itill, ic was true of them all,
that they had *' gone out of the way;" not
equally, viewed as individuals, but in various
degrees, fome in one, others in another, and the
generality in an high degree; infomuch that
the Apoftle might juftly defcribe them, in the
grofs, as awfully corrupt. For this was the real
truth of their charafler; though it might be faid
of fome of them, in the individual fenfe, that
they were finners only in the eye of law, as fepa-
rated from the grace that is in Chrifl Jefus.

And that it was really the At^^^n o^ the Apoftlc
to give us to iinderlknd, that they were all fin-
ners in the judgment of rigid law, individual^
fpeaking, and not in the ccllc^ive fenfe only,
fnould feem evident beyond all reafonable dif-
P pute*

2IO DISSERTATION III.

pute. How elfc could he fay, chap, iii. ver. 9.
" We have before proved both Jews and Gen-
tiles, that they are all under fin ?'* Hov/ elfe
could he fay, in confequence of this proof,
ver, 19. " that every mouth is (lopped, and
ALL THE WORLD become guilty before God ?"
How elfe could he introduce, from his thread
of reafoning in thefe chapters, the univerfal con-
clufion, ver. 20. " therefore, by the deeds of
the law (hall no flesh be juftified in his fight?'*
And, in fhort, how elfe could he go on and
affirm, as in ver. 21. that ^' now," that is, under
the gofpel, " the righteoufnefs of God," the
righteoufnefs God will accept in the affair of
jultification, " without law," upon another foot
than that of mere law, ^' is manifefted ?" And
again, ver. 24. " that we are juftified freely by
his [God's] grace, through the redemption that
is in Jefus 1'* And yet again, ver. 28. '^ therefore
we conclude, that a man is juftified by faith
without the deeds of the law ?"

It fliould feem indubitably clear, that the
Apoftle's aim was to teach, and eftablifb, juftifi-
cation upon other than law terms , and that his
reafoning, in the three firft chapters of this
Epiftle, v/as principally directed to fettle this
important point. But if, in confequence of his
reafoning, it is not the truth of faft that both
Jews and Genciies were finners in the account of
jlricf law^ confidcrcd individually as well as
COLLECTIVELY, there is no argumentative con-
nection

DISSERTATION III. an

nedion between the point he had in view, and
the reafoning he has ufed to defend and fupport
it. Nay, if it were true of any onie individual,
whether in the JewiQi or Gentile world, that he
was not a finner, judging of his character by law,
without grace, the Apoflle has left his dodrine
of the impofTibillty of juflification upon the terms
of law, without folid proof, at lead, in regard of
that univerfality in which he has afTerted, and
endeavoured to maintain it. He can, in a word,
be looked upon as a confident conclufive writer
upon no other fcheme than this, that Jews and
Gentiles, individually as well as colleflively con-
fidered, were finners in the eye of law, as having
been the breakers of it in a lefs or greater de-
gree, and therefore not within the poflibility of
being juftified upon a trial by fo fevere a rule,

I may pertinently add here, that the Apoftle'3
reafoning, with refped to the unattainablenefs of
juftification upon the terms of law, ought to be
confidered as referring not only to mankind as
exifting at the time when he wrote, but to man-
kind in all after-ages to the end of time. For
the confequence he deduces, from his method of
reafoning, is in thofe llrong terms of univerfality,
" therefore by the deeds of the law, there (hall
NO FLESH be juftified in his fight." No flesh,
that is, no fon of Adam> not one of the human
race. Nor, unlefs he is to be underftood as
taking into his meaning mankind univerfally^
have we, in thefe days, any concern with his
P 2 dodlrine

212 DISSERTATION III.

do6lrIneof"juftification without law:'* whereas,
he moft certainly wrote with a view to after-ages,
as well as that in which he lived -, defigning to
affirm, and prove, that no man, in any age till
the end of the world, could be juflified upon
mere law-terms; becaule, in the eye of naked
law, they could not but be found guilty before
God. And the real truth is, his realbning upon
this head is as applicable to nnankind univerfally
in thefe days, as to mankind at the time when he
wrote his Epiftle. For it is as true now, as it was
then, and has all along been fo, that they have
univerfally finned. Not that mankind, in all
ages, have been finners juil in the fame degree
as in the Apoftle's days ; but they now are,
always have been, and always v/ill be, finners in
fuch a fenfe, as that it is impoflible they fhould
be juflified by the rule of ftrid law.

And this account of his reafoning, it is ob-
fervable, perfedly coincides with the reprefenta*
tions that are, every where elfe, given of this
matter in Scripture. Says the infpired David,
Pfalm cxxx. 3. " If thou. Lord, fliouldeft mark
iniquities, O Lord, who fhall fland ?" And
again, Pfalm cxliii. 2. " Enter not into judgment
with thy fervant; for in thy fight lliall no man
living be jufiified.'* To the like purpofe is the
reafoning in the book of Job, chap, ix. ver. 2, 3.
*' How fhould man be jufl: with God ? If he con-
tend w'ith him, he cannot anfwer him one of a
thoufand." To the fame purpofe flill are thofe

words

DISSERTATION III. 213

words of Solomon, Ecclef. vii. 20. *^ There is
not a jufl: man upon earth that doth good, and
finneth not." Agreeable whereto the apoftle
John allures us, in his firft Epiftle, chap. i. ver. 8.
that " if we fay we have no fin, we deceive our-
felves, and the truth is not in us."

2. The apoftle Paul, and indeed all the facred
writers of the New Teftamenr, do as certainly-
ground Td^XiS favMification., as their juflification,
on the fcheme of grace that is opened in the
gofpel; giving us to underftand, that no fon of
Adam can, upon any other foot, attain to a '* free-
dom from fin," any more than *^ condemnation."
Their language is as full and exprefs upon the
former, as the latter of thefe points. Hence
the gofpel is called, verfe 2. of the 8th chapter
of the Epiftle to the Romans, *' The law of the
Spirit of life," which makes us *^ free from the
law of fin and -death." Hence ^^ the righteouf-
nefs of the law" is faid, ver. 4. to be '' fulfilled
by thofe who walk after the Spirit," that is,
as influenced and conduvfled by the Spirit of
God, who is exhibited in the gofpel plan as the
difpenfer of all gracious afliftances. Hence our
" mortifying the deeds of the body" is fpoken
of, ver. 13. as accomplifhed *' through the
Spirit," that is, help miniftered from him. And
hence our attainment to a ftate o^ moral re5litudey
is every where attributed to thofe influences
which are beyond the power of mere nature.
P 3 Agreeably,

214 DISSERTATION III.

Agreeably, we are not only faid to be " born
again," to be " created again," to be " renewed
in the inner man j" but to be ^' born of the
Spirit," to be " created in Chrift Jefus," to be
*' renewed by the Holy Ghoft -," the evident
purport of which texts is, that, upon our be-
coming good men, we have, as it were, a new
moral exiftence, and have it from the grace and
fpiritofGod, through Jefus Chrift; and not in
confequence of the fole workings of mere nature.
And this is equally true of all the fons of Adam,
whether they are Jews or Gentiles. In fhort
(for it would be needlefs to enlarge in fo plain a
cafe), it is very obvioufly the great fcope, efpe-
cially of the apoftle Paul's writings, to teach us,
that our condition in the world is fuch, as that it
is impoflible, by the force of mere nature, under
a difpenfation of rigid law, to attain to a (late
of fandlification, any more than juftification.
He equally grafts both thefe attainments on the
gofpel-plan ; nor can his writings be rnade
intelligible and confiftent upon any other fup-
pofition,

3. I now add, in the laft place, that he has
dillinclly and particularly acquainted us with the
true rifey or occofional caufe of all this ; namely,
our coming into exiftence through the firft man
Adam, and, in confequence of his lapfe, under a

DISADVANTAGEOUS STATE OF NATURE. There

are Icveral padages in the 5th chapter of his

Epiftle

DISSERTATION III. 215

Epiftle to the Romans, which evidently carry in
them this meaning: nor can they be underflood,
as I imagine, in any other fenfe, fo as to make
the Apoftle a coherent conclufive writer. The
paffages I refer to are thofe, in general, con-
tained in the 12th to the end of the 19th
verfe; more efpecially thefe words, ** Wherefore,
as by one man fin entered into the world, and
death by fin 3 and fo death has pafied upon all
men, for that all have finned •/' I would read
the laft words " for that all have finned,"

[£<p u TTOcvTsg niMOcrrov'] V PON WHICH, IN CONSE-
QUENCE OF WHICH, all have finned; or, in
other words, are in fuch a ilate, under fuch cir-
cumftances, as that it is morally impoflible
but they fhould fo far fin, as to be incapable
of being juftified by law without grace, or of
attaining to a meetnefs for the future glory and
immortality. That this is the meaning of the
Apoftle in thefe words, or that, by ufing them,
he had it in defign to reprefent " the one offence
of the one man Adam,'* as that which gave rife,
or occafion, to the dif advantageous circumftances
under which his pofterity come into exiftence,
in confequence of which they will turn out fin-
ners, and unfit for heavenly happinefs, fiiould
they be dealt v/ith according to law, without the
intervening mixture of grace : I fay, that this is
the idea the Apoftle intended to convey, we fiiall
endeavour, in a fupplcmental diflertation, largely
to fhew. And I chofe to offer what was pro[ier
P 4 and

2i6 DISSERTATION III.

and necefTary to be faid upon this head in a dif-
tindl difTertation, that I might not engage the
attention of the common reader to what he might
think too tedious, as well as hard to be under-
flood.

From the two foregoing particulars, and the
lad, as illufcrated in the Supplement to this Work,
it undeniably appears, that mankind come into
the world, in confequence of Adam's lapfe, not
only fubjefled lo deaths but to Juch a ftate of nature
as renders it impoflible they fhould, upon a rule
of law not mixed with grace, obtain the juftifi-
cation of life, or that moral rectitude, .without
■which they cannot be happy as moral and intel-
ligent agents. And I have taken the more pains
upon this head, becaufe the gofpel-fcheme, as
fet forth in the wriiings of the apoftle Paul,
takes rife from both these disadvantages,
derived to us in confequence of the lapfe of our
firfl father Adam ; and this, with evidence fo
clear and full, that it is really unaccountable
any, who have made it their bufinefs to ftudy
his Epiftles, fhould declare to the world, that
'^ mankind derive from Adam as good a nature as
he had before his lapfe -," that is, a nature as
well furnifhed to attain to a ftate of moral re^i-
tude \ and that the " gofpel-fcheme no otherwife
refers to the lapfe of Adam, than as it delivers
his pofterity from the power of death, to which
they had thereby been fubjedled." For, if this
js a juft reprefentation of the cafe, the pofterity

of

DISSERTATION III. 217

of Adam had no more need of the gofpel-dif-
penfation to promote fandicy in them, than he
had to promote it in him in his innocent ftate,
however they might need it to deliver them from
the power of the grave. For poflefling, by fup-
pofition, a nature as well fitted for moral attain-
ments as his, they might, without the gofpel,
have been the a6lual fubjedls of them as well as
lie : but, furely, the apoftle Paul has given us a
quite different account of this matter. Can any,
who have carefully fludied his Epiftles, his
Epiftle to the Romans in fpecial, with the leafl
hce of rcafon, pretend, that mankind, in his
view of the cafe, (land in no more need of the
gofpel than innocent Adam, in order to their
attaining to a freedom from the power of their
fielhly nature ? and that the gofpel relates to no
other difadvantGgei arifing from his lapfe, than
our certain liablenefs to fuffer death? It muft be
owing to fome fcrange bias of mind, if it is not
perceived that the apofrle Paul makes it impof-
fible, that any fon of Adam fhould attain to a
flate of moral re^iitude without the gofpel, or by
the fole force of mind, or reafonj and that the
gofpel-difpenfation was as truly erecled in relief
of our weahiejs and imperfe^liony in ourfclves
fimply confidered, with refpe6t to fandiificatlon^
as to deliver us from death which had got domi-
nion over us.

It has been faid by no icfs a writer rhnn Dr.
Taylor, and by others from him, <^ that it cannot

be

2i8 DISSERTATION IIL

be colleded from any thing that was either faid
or done by Adam before his fall, that his
faculties were fuperior to what they were after-
wards, or that they exceeded the faculties his
pofterity have been endowed with fince." Should
this be allowed, it will not follow (as has been
largely proved already in anfwer to this objec-
tion), but that he might, notwithftanding, have
poflefled faculties that would have enabled him,
by ufe and exercife, in due time to have at^
tained to vaftly more exalted degrees, both of
knowledge and hoiinefs, than any of his pollerity
are capable of in their prefent ftate.

And it is with me pad all doubt, that this is
the truth of the cafe. For if it be a real fafl, as
v/e have in fome of the foregoing pages en-
deavoured to prove it from the Scripture to be,
that the earth has been changed from its priftine
flate by the curse of God, it is highly congruous
to reafon to fuppofe, that fome analogous change
has been made alfo in the conftitutions of m.en,
fitting them to live on it. And, without intro-
ducing the immediate agency of God to efFc6t
this change, it may eafily be accounted for. It
is both natural and philofophical to think, that
the hodily conlHtution of Adam might be gra-
dually altered, upon his being turned out of
paradife, into a world that had been curfed of
God ; that is, fo changed as to be adapted to
very dilferent purpofes from what it was be-
fore. It could not indeed have been otherwife.

Eftablifhed

DISSERTATION III. 219

Eftablifhed connexions made it neceflary. A
change in external nature, rendering it lejs perfeSf^
would, in confequence of fettled laws uniformly-
taking place, produce a like change in his bodily,
machine, gradually reducing it to a ftate fimilar
to itfelf. And if his bodily nature was rendered
lefs perfetly the difadvantage would unavoidably
have extended to his fouL For as his foul adled
by the medium of his body, its exertions muft
have been proportioned to its fitnefs as an inftru-
mentto a6t by 3 which amounts, in truefenfe and
reality of conflruclion, to the fame thing, pre-
cifely, as if a change had been made in his foul it-
felf, becaufe its faculties, with refpect to their
ufe or exercife, is all we are concerned with in the
prefent argument* And as the pofterity of Adam
were to have exiftence as derived to them through
him, and to hold it in a world that lies under the
curfe it v/as doomed to for his offence, it could
not be but it muft have been in the like changed
and lefs perfedt ftate*.

And

* I have fuppofed, in the above reafoning, that our firft fa-»
ther might have been gradually changed, according to the efla-
bliftied courfe of nature, into a ie/t perfect creature, in confe-
querice of the cui<sE that was faftened on the earth by reafon of
his lapfe; though it might alfo have been effei^ed in a moje di-
re£l way, by the immediate agency of God, A change in his
body, as his foul could ad only by that as its inftrument, was all
that was necefiary. And why may it not be thought that the
body of Adam, opou his lapfe, wat deprived, in a meafure, of that
peffe(rtion^ as a macbine, which it had in his innocent ftate, and
b.y the fame power ihat originally fornicd it? Poffibly the refur-

icition-

1220 DISSERTATION III.

And it was, perhaps, expedient, in point of
wifdom, that, upon a change in material nature,
there fhould be a change alfo in the human confti-
tution. A diiTerent flate of the earth would re-
quire a proportionably different one in the powers
of its inhabitants. Such powers as we now have,
might not be fuited to the (late of the world be-
fore thelapfes as, on the other hand, fuch powers
as Adam had in innocency might not be
adapted to the condition the world has been in

re£lion-bodies of the faints may be little, if any thing more,
than their comparatively ** vile bodies'* reilored to the flate they
might have been in, had it not been for the lapfe of the one
man Adam. There may be reafon to think thus, if we attend
to the manner of fpealcing fometimes ufed in the New Teftament
writings: as in Ads, iii. 21, where ** the heavens are faiJ to re-
ceive Chrirt until [uTToKaTotrac-Buq '7ca.vi:uv\ the rellitution of all
things;" that is, the times when they Ihall be reftored to the
flate ihey were in before the lapfe, and the curfe that was confe-
quent upon it: (o, in Match, xix. 28. where our Saviour, fpeak-
ing of thofe who had followed him, fays, " In the regeneration
[av T-/) TraAvyyEo-ta] they fhall fit upon twelve thrones.'* The re-
generation here mentioned, doubtlef^ poin;s our view to the in-
tended renovation of all things; their being, as it were, born
again, fo born as to exifl in their former better flate. In like
manner, the apollle Peter befpeaks the Chrillians he wrote to in
fuch language as that, 2 Ephef. iii. 13. ** We, according to
his promife, look for new heavens rnd a new e.irth, wherein
d'ATtlleth righteoufners." This new heaven and new earth is
the fame with that which the apoftle John faw in his vifions, Rev.
:-:xi. 1 ; which feems to have been the earth dt-liveted, as he
fpeaks, chap, xxii. 3. from the curfe, and rellored to its paradi-
fdic {late: for it is reprefenced to have in it " a river of water
of life,'* and *' the tree of life,' in allufion to the parddife of
innocent Adam, Rev. xxii. i, 2.

fince.

DISSERTATION III. 221

fince. It might be unfit, difproportionate, for
Adam, or any of his poflerity, in fuch a world
as the cutfe has made this to be, to be capable of
acquiring either fo much knowledge, or holinefs,
as might have been fuitable and proper for them
to have acquired in the paradifaic world. The
world, in its prefent (late, may be quite unfit for
fuch improvements, either intelledtual or moral,^
as might have been highly proper in its original
Hate.

But, however this be, it is certainly the truth of
faft, and known to be fo from univerfal expe-
rience, that the poflerlty of Adam are in fuch
circumftances, as that an unerring attachment to
the rule of duty is not to be expelled; infomudl
that it is notpolTible they fhould be juftified upbii
the foot of rigid law, or that they fhould attain to
acceptable red:iLude, but by the afTiftance of
grace. And, if we may depend upon the in-
fpired Paul, this ftate we are in took rife from the
offence of the one man Adam, our firfl father.

It will, probably, be faid by fome, as an infu-
perable objedtion againft our deriving from
Adam, in confequence of his lapfe, the Hate of
nature we have defcribed, that it bears hard upon
the attributes and moral government of God:
and I acknowledge, with all freedom, if God had
determined to deal with the pofterity of Adam in
a way q{ ftri5l law only^ the objeflion, fo far as I
am able to judge, could not pofTibly be anfwered.
But, if they were placed from the beginning, and

have

222 DISSERTATION III.

have all along fince been, under a difpenfatiort
that is adjuiled to their nature and circumftances
(which, as I fuppofe, is the real truth of the cafe,
and has, in fome of the foregoing pages been
proved to be fo), there is no difficulty in the mat-
ters at lead, no greater difficulty than arifcs from
the fubjedion we are under to forrow and death, in
confequence of this fame original lapfe. Both
thefe difadvantages ftand upon the fame foot.
They are both juflified by like analogies, and
may equally be accounted for upon the doflrine of
general laws eftablifhed for the general good^

We have already feen that children are fubjefled
to heavy fufFerings, yea, grievous anticipated
deaths, through the default of their more imme-
diate parents; which is a fadl perfeflly analogous
to that fubje6lion we are all under to forrow and
death, through the default of our common fa-
ther, and may, in the fame way, be reconciled
with the perfedions and righteous government of
God.

I now add, the fame analogy takes place, with
refpedt to the difadvantage here obje6led to. It is
daily feen in fad, and known by experience,
that children derive from their next or more im-
mediate progenitors, conftitutional turns, com-
plexions, temperatures, diforders, or whatever
elfe any pleafe to call them, which have a very
great influence in the formation of their main
charadler in life. In virtue of t\\t^c general laws y
which the God of nature has eflabliflied, thefe

conftitutional

DISSERTATION III. 223

confticutional turns (whether we can conceive of
the modus of the thing, or account for it or not)
are not only tranfmitted from parents to children,
but, in confequence of them, children are fub-
jedled to vaft difadvantagesy with rcfpecl both to
mental and ;?2c?r^/attaintments. To this it is ow-
ing, thatfome children are born incapable of ever
coming to the proper exercife of reafon and un-
derflanding; to the fame caufe it may be attri-
buted, that others arrive to the exercife of reafon
in a poor, low degree only; and to the fame bo-
dily temperature ftill it may juftly be afcribed,
at leaft in part, that many among thofe who pof-
fefs the power of reafon, in a confiderable mea-
fure, are fo exceeding apt to be betrayed into
wrong and miftaken notions. And bodily conftitu-
Hon has the like influence upon men's morals* It
is not more certain that children derive from their
parents bodily tendencies io-^d^rds thefe and thofe dif-
tempers, than that they are born with confiitutional
turns y prompting to thefe and thofe moral irre-
gularities. The fanguine, forinftance, have that
in their natural frame which tempts them to light-
hefs, vanity, and wantonnefs; the choleric, to
palTion and quick refentment; the phlegmatic, to
idlenefs, floth, and careleflfnefs; and the melan-
cholic, to fufpicion, jealoufy, and fournefs of
temper. Thefe, and the like turns, may, pofli-
bly, be fuperinduced in fome perfons upon na-
ture; but, with refpedl to multitudes, they have
their foundation in that animal temperature which

has

224 DISSERTATION III.

has been tranfinicted to them from their pa-
rents.

Not that any are to be blamed for their confti-
tutional diforders, fimply as fuch, be they as they
may. It is no more my fault that I was born
with a temperature of blood and fpirits, in con-
fequence of which I am apt to be betrayed into
rafh anger, jealoiify, hatred, or flelhly indul-
gences, than that I was born with a tendency in
my nature to the gout, or gravel, or flone, or any
other bodily diitemper, I may be faulty, when
I come to the exercife of reafon, for not reftrain-
ing and governing my confiitutional turns; but
it is impoffible I flioukl be juflly chargeable with
blame for having them in my nature, fimply as
they are tranfmitted to me with my exigence.
But ftill, thefe conftitutional diforders are great
DISADVANTAGES, and may prove the occafion of,
or temptation to, a very vicious and immoral cha-
radter in after-life; which, God knows, is too
often the cafe infadl: nay, thefe bodily tempera-
tures may render our (late of trial far more diffi-
cult and dangerous than it would othervvife have
been; nay, further, in confequence of them, it
may be impoffible, upon the foot of a difpenfa-
tion not mixed with grace, but that we fhould be
miferable.

Now, if the eflabliflied laws of nature are fuch,
as that we may come into cxiPcence, and be
obliged to hold exigence, under the disadvan-
tage of a ccnftitution less pep fect, and less

7 FITTED

DISSERTATION III. 2^5

FITTED for intelledual and moral attainments^
than would have been tranfmitted to us, had it
not been for the fin and folly of our more immediate
progenitors, why may not the like difadvantage be
derived to us from our original and common father ?
There is certainly an analogy between thefe cafes j
and if the former can be accounted for, the latter
may alfo, in the fame way.

It will, perhaps, be faid here. Why need the
Deity have confined himfelf to eftabliih general
laws in the beftowment of exiftence? Why, to
laws from whence have arofe fuch manifeft incon-
veniences? Does it not argue a defed in God's
wifdoin or benevolence, that mankind, by the fa-
tality of fettled connections in nature, (hould be
made liable to fufferings, and this, through even
the follies and vices of thofe from whom they de*
rive their being?

In reply, it is eafy to obferve, that queftions of
this kind do, in their final refult, prove nothing
more than the ignorance of thofe who make them.
It may be true, for aught any one can fay to the
contrary, that man's coming into exiftence, and
then holding exiftence, not by immediate, unre-
lated exertions of Divine power, but conforma-
bly to eftabliOied connections, in an uniform
courfc, is the fitteft method for the accomplifh-
ment of the beft and wifeft ends: and it may be
as true, that the connexions which God has, in
fad, eftablifhed, are as well adapted as they
could have been to promote thofe fame ends. To

Q^ be

226 DISSERTATION III.

be fure, no man has a right to find fault, either
with eftablifhed laws in general, or thofe in par-
ticular which are eftabliflied, till he is able to
make it appear that better ends could have been
anfweredj that is, inconveniences lefTened, and
the common good, upon the whole, augmented,
if no connections were fettled, or others eftablilh-
cd, in the room of thofe that now take place.

Should it be again faid, upon fuppofition of a
courfe of nature, and fuch an one as is aflually
eftabliQied, might not interpositions be rea-
fonably expedled, fuch interpofitions as would
prevent the inconveniences that would otherwife
happen? And does not the want of thefe interpo-
fitions, and the fufferings of mankind thereupon,
bear hard upon the benevolence of the Supreme
Being?

The anfwer plainly is, the inconveniences
which arife for the prefenr, from general laws
llatedly permitted to take their courfe, may pof-
fibly, under the condu6t of infinite^ wifdom,
power, and goodnefs, be remedied in the final
iffue of their operation. But however this be,
who knows what would be the refult of thofe de-
fired interpofitions, whether good or evil, upon
the whole? It is true, if they would be followed
with no other confequences than the prevention of
the inconveniences they arc introduced for, they
might reafonably be deHred and expeded^ but
who can fay, there would be no other confe-
quencesi yea, that there would not be bad ones ;

DISSERTATION III. 227

it may be, fuch as might be more than a balance
for the evil it is propofed they (hould remedy?
The truth is, thefe aflced-for interpofitions would
neceflarily introduce an effential change in the
government of the world : and we may be
ready to imagine, it would be a change for the bet-
ter; but we know not that it would. And if we
fhould affirm fuch a thing, it would be only by
way of mere random conjedure. Befides, it
ought to be remembered, the interpofitions here
required are fuch as muft be effectual certainly
to prevent mortil as well as natural evil. And will
any undertake to make it evident, that moral evil
could certainly and effedually have been pre-
vented by interpofitions that would not, at the
fame time, have brought on other confequences
as truly fatal to the happinefsof moral agents? It
is, perhaps, an indubitable truth, that no inter-
pofitions but fuch over-bearing ones as are de-
flrudive of moral agency itfelf, could have cer-
tainly and abfolutely prevented moral evil. And
the deftrudlion of moral agency would, I will
venture to fay, have at once deftroyed the true
and only foundation on which the greateft and
moft valuable happinefs, that is communicable
from the Deity, is built; as an intelligent reader
may eafily perceive, by purfuing the thought in
his own mind.

Upon the whole, the method of giving exift-
ence to the human fpecies, and fupporting them
in itj not by immediate unrelated adls of power

CL2 and

228 DISSERTATION III.

and goodnefs, but in a fucceflive way, conform-
ably to eftablifhed laws, not over-ruled by fre-
quently repeated interpofitions, but permitted to
take efFed in a regular uniform courfe, may be
thewifeft and bed; and the Deity might know it
to be fo, and for this reafon pitch upon it as the
only way in which he would manifeft his benevo-
lence in bringing mankind into being, and con-
tinuing them in it. And we ought to reft fatif-
fied with this method; to be fure, we ought not
to find fault with it, till we find ourfelves able to
devife one that is better.

And if this method, for aught we can fay, may
be the beft fitted to accomplifh the beft ends, it
IS no objedion againft the wifdom or goodnefs of
it, either that the whole human fpecies, in con-
fequence of its operation, come into exiftence
fubjedled to the difadvantages we have been fpeak-
ing of, or that any of the individuals of this fpe-
cies, in confequence of the fame eftablifhed laws,
poffefs their beings under inconveniences peculiar to
themfelves. For thefe may be unavoidable ef-
fedls of that which is the beft adapted fcheme to
accomplifh, upon the whole, the greateft good.

It may be fubjoined here, as a juft corollary
from what has been faid in the immediately fore-
going paragraph, that the whole human fpecies,
by means of the firft man Adam, or any of the
individuals of this fpecies, by means of their
next progenitors, may come into exiftence and
poffefs it, under difadvantages it would be a reflec-
tion

DISSERTATION III. 229

tion on the Deity to fuppofe he (hould fubjefl
them to, if they received their being immediately
from his creating hands. The reafon of this is
evidently founded on the preceding doflrine of
general laws taking place conformably to an efta-
blifhed fettled coiirfe: for, according to thefe
laws, the abufe of moral agency is conneded with
difadvantage, not only to the guilty individuals,
but others alfo connefled with them, efpecially
thofe who derive their exiftence from them;
which connexion of difadvantage, with the abufe
of moral agency, notwichftanding its thus confc-
quentially afFeding others befides the guilty per-
fons themfelves, may be the wifeft and beft expe-
dient to accomplifli, upon the whole, the bell
and wifeft ends. And if fo, this fubjedlion of
others, befides the guilty perfons themfelves, to
this confequential difadvantage, may confift with
the higheft wifdom and benevolence in the Su-
preme Being; while yet it might be inconfiftent
with the honour of thofe perfections to fuppofe,
that he fhould fubjedl thofe innocent beings to
this difadvantage, without the intervention of
abufed moral agency; as would be the cafe, if
they were brought into exiftence by immediate un^
related Si6is of power. From whence it follows,
that fhould it be the truth of fadV, as I doubt not
but it really is, that the condition of mankind,
by means of their firfl: father and after-progeni-
tors, is fuch as they could not be placed in, if
they received their exiftence by immediate ads

0.3 o{

230 DISSERTATION III.

of creating power; I fay, fhould this be the
truth of fact, it may, notwithftanding, be as
true a one, that their fubjedion to this condition
is perfediy reconcilable with the attributes of
God, as it comes to pais in confequence of laws,
which^ though eftablifhed for the accomplilhment
of the befl ends, are yet unavoidably capable, in
the nature of things, of being perverted in their
operation, fo as to leave room for this inconvenience^
however great a one it may be efteemed.

But, after all that has been faid, it may yet
further be objeded. Why need Adam, upon his
one offence, have been fubjeded to a doom that
inade it impoiTible for him to attain to a happy
immortality, without firft pafling through a va-
riety of forrows, and even death itfelf? Could
not the all-merciful Being have admitted him to
pardon upon the terms of repentance, and a
better care of obedience for the future; and in
this way have prevented thefe fufferings? And
would not fuch a method of condud have better
comported with the conceptions we have of his
infinite goodnefs ? Efpecially as the fentence pror
nounced againft him would, in confequence of
fettled convidion, involve his poRerity, through-
out all generations, in a multiplicity of trials, and
unavoidably prevent their ever obtaining eternal
life without firfl undergoing death.

This objedlion, it is obvious, would fet up a
fcheme in remedy of the inconveniences of the
lapfe, dijFerent from that which is propofed in

the

DISSERTATION III. 231

tht revelations of God. But who can fay what
would have been the refuk of this fcheme of
man's wifdona? Will any pretend to affirm, that
it would, in the final ifTue of its operation, have
been more honorary to the Governor of the
world, or more conducive to the gobd of man-
kind, than that which is opened in the facred
books of Scripture? Perhaps, the reafons of go-
vernment might make it fit and proper, and
therefore morally necirefiary, that the threatening
which God denounced Ihould be executed.
Would the wlfdom of the Supreme Legiflator
have guarded his prohibition with a penalty it Vv'as
not reafonable and juft he fhould inflift? And
might not the inflidion of it, when incurred, be
of fervice, fignal fervice, to the honour of the
Divine authority, and to fecure the obedience 6f
the creature in' all after-times? And it might be
more for-man's good, for the *^ one man'* Jefus
Chritl: to become " the wifdom and povver of
God" unto our falvation, than that it fhould be left
with ourfelves to work it outj efpecially after thd
trial that had already been made with refpeCl: to
the firft man>

It is true, there is no arriving at immortality
in the way propofed in the infpired writings,
without pafling through forrows, trials, and even
death itfelf; but thefe are all capable, upon the
plan of God, through the grace there is in Jefus
Chrift, of becoming advantageSy rather than dif-
advantages, to us. For the greater our forrows,

Q.4 the

(232 DISSERTATION III.

the more numerous and heavy our fufFerings, the
'^ more exceeding will be our weight of glory"
in the refurrection-world, if, by means of them,
we are made more perfeft, in conformity to the
example of him who is our pattern and Saviour:
and they may, upon the gofpel-fcheme of mercy,
be a fit and wife courfe of difcipline, in order to
our being formed to a meeknefs for this glory and

-honour.

The Ihort of the matter is, God would not
have permitted Adam, after his lapfe, to have
continued in life long enough to have had pofle-

' rity, if he had not devifed a fcheme for their re-
lief under the forrows and trials they would
come intp exiftence fubjeded to, and the fins
likewife they might be led afide and enticed to
commit. And this fcheme, we may depend, is a
wife and good one, an infinitely better one than
could have been contrived by man, or God
would not have adopted it. It is, at prefent, in
operation only 5 and as we do not fee its whole
refult, we can judge of it but imperfedlly: but:
when it has had its full effect, and is a finifhecj
work, there will be no room left for difpute. All
ipteliigent beings, in all worlds, who may be
^lade acquainted with it, will be obliged to own
and admire the riches both of the wifdom ^p4
goodneft vyhich have been manifelted by it.

[ 2J3 ]

DISSERTATION IV.

Of the difference betiveen the one man^ Adam^
in his innocent JiatCy and his pojierity dc-^
fcending from him in his lapfedjlate.

NO one can read the foregoing pages, and
not perceive, that there was a difference
(important in fonne refpeds) between the one
man, Adam, in innocency, and his pofterity as
deriving exiftence from him, after his fall from
God. It may not be improper to be particular
and diftindl in pointing out this diff^erence, as it
will enable us to take in, at once, a clear and
full idea of the true (late of our firft father before
his lapfe, and of ours in confequence of it,

Adam was brought into being by an immediate
exertion of creating power. He was, accord-
ingly, as at firft made by God, a creature per-^
fedt in his kind; that is, he had nothing wrong
in his nature, no faculties, either bodily or men-
tal, but what were wifely and admirably well
adapted to one of his rank in the fcale of exift-
ence. He was not made naturally incapable of
jTiifufing his implanted powers. Had this b^-en

pofTible,

234 DISSERTATION IV.

poflible, it did not feem expedient to the wifdom
of God J for it is evident, from what has taken
place in fa(fl:, that he might become a finful
creature. But yet, his endowments were fuch
as that he was every way fitted to anfwer the
ends for which he was created. This, as we
have feen, is the account the Scripture has given
us of the matter. His bodily machine was cu-
noufly fuited to be a fit inflrumcnt for his foul
to ad by; and his foul was furnifhed with intel-
leflual and moral faculties, rendering him capable
of attaining to an aclual refemblance of the
Deity in knowledge, holinefs, and happinefs ;
and of growing perpetually in this likenefs to the
higheft degrees attainable by a creature of his
order in the creation.

The pofterity of Adam come into exiflence,
not immediately^ but by the intervention of an
eftahlijhed courfe of nature. And to this it is
owing, that exiflence is handed to them in a lefs
ferfe5f ftate than that in which it was communi-
cated to the one man, Adam. If the original
progenitor had continued innocent, it is not cer-
tain that his pofterity, from generation to gene-»
ration, would have had his nature tranfmitted to
them in the fame perfect degree in which he re-
ceived, and would have poflefTed it. But how-
ever it might be as to this, it is, fince the lapfe,
a real fadl, and has all along been fo, that man-
kind come into being lefs perfe^i in degree, than
their firll father came out of the creating hands

of

DISSERTATION IV. 235

of God. The ejfential charaderiftics of human
nature, it is true, have, in all ages from the
beginning, been tranfmitted from parents to
children i but not in the fame degree of perfec-
tion. This has ever been various, and ever will
be fo, in virtue of thofe intermediate fecondary
caufes, with which the tranfmifllon of exiftence
is univerfally connedtcd. And as thefe caufes
have their operation fince the lapfe, it is im-
pofTible but that exiftence" ftiould be communi-
cated with comparative difadvantage. No fon of
Adam comes into being but with lefs perfect
Hon of nature than he might, and would have
done, had it not been for the introduftion of fin
into the world, and the numerous evils that are,
by the eftablifliment of heaven, conneded with
it : and as to multitudes, exiftence being com-
municated to them through progenitors, who
have funk their natures by their follies and vices,
it is poflefled by them in lamentably fad circum-
ftances; and the more fo, as their trial for the
future ftate has hereby been rendered greatly
difficult, and peculiarly hazardous.

Another difference between Adam and his
pofterity is this : he was created a man at
oncci that is, with implanted powers, in fuch a
ftate as that they were immediately fit for ufe and
exercife. We are born infants, in regard of
our minds as well as bodies. Whatever natural
powers we are endowed with, they are at firft in
^ weak, low, feeble Rates and it is in a leifurely

gradual

2sS DISSERTATION IV.

gradual way, that they rife to a degree of matu-
rity tolerably fitting them for exercife. The
advantage here will readily be perceived to be
much in favour of the one man Adam. It is
true, his powers, at firft, were naked capacities as
ours are 5 but then, they were the powers of a
full-made man^ and not of a mere habe or infant ;
for which reafon he might, with great eafe and
quicknefs, have arrived at that perfection, efpe-
cially in moral qualities, which he was made
capable of attaining to, and in the attainment of
which he would bell anfwer the ends of his crea-
tion. It is true, likewife, he mufl, his powers
being at firll nothing more than mere naked
ones, have flood in need of foreign guidance
and help in his prefent unexperienced and unim-
proved flate. And he was accordingly favoured
with it immediately from God. His Maker was
his guide, tutor, and guardian > and had he not
difobeyed his voice, by hearkening to his own
counfel, he would have trained him up to a con-
firmed flate in every thing that was valuable.
In this, the advantage was unfpeakably on the
fide of Adam. For we, his poflerity, inftead
of having God for our immediate inflru6lor, arc
placed under the tutelage of parents, or others,
who may happen to have the care of us, while
in our non-age. And as we are, from the day
of our birth to the time of our growth to a flate
of maturity, under the guidance of thofe who
are too generally ignorant, not knowing how to

cultivate

DISSERTATION IV. 237

cultivate our powers ; or negligent, taking little
or no care upon this head ; or fo in love with
vanity andfin, as to educate us in folly and vice:
I fay, as we are for years too commonly the
guardianfhip of thofe who are thus weak, or
negligent, or grofsly wicked, it muft be obvious
at firft fight, that we are under great dijadvantage
as to the good culture of our minds, in com-
parifon with our firft father. And, in truth, it
is very much owing to this difadvantage, as our
powers are in growth, that fo many contrad, in
their early days, fuch habits of vice as denomi-
nate them the flaves of corruption; though, if they
continue fo in after-life, as, God knows, is too
generally the cafe, to the utter ruin of thoufands
and ten thoufands, the fault will be their own ;
for deliverance from the bondage of fin, how-
ever great it has been, or however early con-
traded, is obtainable upon the foot of grace
through Jefus Chrift.

Further, Adam, upon his being brought into
exiftence, was placed by his Creator in paradife,
where he was in want of nothing to make him
as happy as a creature of his rank could be, in a
world, with reference to which it is faid, " God
faw that it was good." The earth, without any
toilfome labour of his, brought forth every thing
that was " pleafant to the fight, and good for
food:" nor was he fubjedted to the fufi'ering of
evil in any kind. He might, from the make of
his body> and the manner of its being fupported,

be

238 D I S S E R T A T I O N IV.

be naturally capable of undergoing pain in va*
rious ways 5 but his Maker was his protection and
guard ; infomuch that, while innocent, he would
have preferved him from whatever might have
occafioned the fenfation of anxiety and grief in
any fhape or form. Such, in a word, were his
circumftances, in regard of foul and body, and
the world he was placed in, that he might, with-
out interruption, have enjoyed life as perfecftly
as it was fit he fhould do. We, his pofterity
fince the lapfe, come into being in a world, the
*' ground" of which has been " curfed," fo as
that it is " in farrow," by the ** fweat of our
faces," and the toil of our hands, we mufl " eat
of its produce all our days :" befides which,
we are " born to trouble," in innumerable in-
ftances, " as the fparks fly upwards." It is on
thofe accounts, that mankind " groan and travail
in pain;" and they are herefrom fubje(5led to
many and great difadvantages refpecling their
attainment to a ftate of moral reditude. It is
acknowledged, a vaft variety of thofe inconve-
niencies, difficulties, forrows, and fufferings,
we are fubjeded to, are not fo direBly owing to
Adam, as to immediate predeceflbrs, and the
wickednefs of the world we live in : but then,
it ought to be remembered, whatever diforders
there are in this lower creation, whether of a
natural or moral kind, they took rife from the
" one offence of the one man, Adam." This
gave occafion for their introduflion into the

world i

DISSERTATION IV. 239

world ; and by means of them we are under cir-
cumdances greatly difadvantageous, in com-
parifon with the flare Adam was in while in-
nocent.

Another difFerence between innocent Adam
and his pofterity is this : he, though formed of
corruptible materials, in confequence of which
he was naturally a corruptible mortal creature,
might, in virtue of " the tree of life,'* have
lived for ever, had he not eat of " the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil," concerning which
his Maker had faid, " thou (halt not eat of it,
for in the day thou eatefl thereof thou ihalt furely
die." We, his pofterity, come into being not only
corruptible mortal creatures by nature, as he was,
but under fuch circumftances that death muft
inevitably pafs upon us. That grace which
would have made our firft father immortal, by
keeping his corruptible from ever feeing cor-
ruption, was, upon his one offence, withdrawn;
in confequence of which, he not only died him-
felf, but his poflerity alfo will univerfally and
certainly undergo death. But then it mufl: be
added here, they, as well as he, (hall be deli-
vered from the power of death. In Chrifl " all
fhall be made alive," and with as much cer-
tainty as that " in Adam all die." And all
come into exiftence under the pofTibility of
*' reigning in lifej" completely happy life, and
this for ever, through our Lord Jefus Chrifl, *' the
gift of God," by whom is " eternal life."

There

240 DISSERTATION IV.

There is another difference ftill between inno-
cent Adam and his pofterity: according to the
rule of trial under which our firft father was
placed in innocency, there was no room for
repentance, in cafe of tranfgreffion ; but, upon
one offence only, he would be fubjefled to the
threatened penalty j as was the truth of fafir.
For having tranfgreffed in the one article
wherein he was tried, he was doomed to die.
We, his pofterity, upon the foot of the new dif-
penfation we are under, may, if we are wrought
upon to repent, be admitted to mercy, though
our offences fhould have been ever fo numerous.
Herein, as the apoflle Paul fpeaks, the advan-
tage by Chrifl, exceeds, goes beyond the damage
by Adam. The condemnatory fentence was pro-
nounced upon him, and confequentially takes place
upon us, by reafon of" one adt of difobedience"
only J but " the free gift is of many okfences
unto juftification." However many, or how-
ever heinoufly aggravated our fins have been, we
may, in oppofition to them all, upon the gofpel-
plan, obtain the pardoning mercy of God. In
this refpeft, we are in better circumftances than
Adam was, while under trial in his innocent
Hate.

Finally, The reward promifed to Adam, in
cafe of perfevering obedience to his Maker, was
PERPETUAL LIFE, though naturally a mortal crea-
ture: only, he was to enjoy this life here on
earth •, which he would have done with as much

happinefs.

DISSERTATION IV. 24.1

happinefs, as one of his rank in the creation was
fitted for in'fuch a world as this. It has been
often faid, he would in time have pafled through
fome alteration as to the mode of his exigence,
and been placed in fome other world, better
adapted to his making ftill higher advances in
blefiednefs. But this is mere conjedlure. The
Bible fpeaks of no promifed life, or happinefs,
beyond that he would have enjoyed in the earthly
paradife. We^ his pofterity, notwithd^ndirig the
lapfe, and any confequences of it, come into ex-
iftence abfolutely fure, in virtue of the promife
of God, of a refurredion to life after death; andj
if we behave well in the ftate of trial we are
placed under, we are in like manner fure, upon
the word of the fame faithful and true witnefs,
not only that our " corruptible fhall put on in-
corruption, and our mortal put on immortality,
but that we fhall exifl incorruptible immortal
creatures in that kingdom that is above, where
the infinite God himfelf dwells," in whofc
prefence is fulnefs of joy, and at whofe righc
hand are pleafures for evermore. In this re-
fpedu alfo, Adam's poflerity are, perhaps, in
better circumftances, than he would have been
in had he continued innocent*

It is eafy, upon what has been now offered,
to anfwer juftly and properly the queftion fomd
have propofed; namely, are the pofterity of
Adam in worfe circumftances than he was placed
under while in innocency ? Without all doubt,

R they

242 D I S S E R T A T I O N IV.

they are many ways, both naturally and morally
fpeakingj though it may, at the fame time, be
truCi that they have the advantage of him in fome
fpecial articles, as has been hinted,

I (hall not think it a needlefs digreflion, if I
add here with particularity, that our very exift-
ence, as the pofterity of Adam, and all our hopes
as to its being an happy one, are grounded on
the mediatory interpofition of that Great Per-
sonage, whofe birth into our world, with the
merciful defign of it, was fignified to our firft
father, when it was told him, " that the feed of
the woman fhould bruife the ferpent's head."
Had it not been for this " only begotten Son of
God," who, *' in the fulnefs of time** was to be
** born of a woman," and the difplay of grace
through him, Adam would have been turned out
of life INSTANTLY upon his eating of the tree
concerning which God had faid to him, " thou
fhalt not eat of it, for in the day thou eateft
thereof thou fhalt furely diej" in which cafe he
could have had no pofterity. The possibility
therefore of their exiftence, through him as their
father, was the efFed of the grace that came by
Jcfus Chrift. It was owing to this, and to this
folely, that a way was opened for the exiftence
of thofe millions who have already defcended,
and may yet defcend, from the one man, Adam,
after it had been Ihut up by his lapfe, which ex-
pofed him to immediate death : otherwife, their
coming into being would have been an impofli-

bility

i) i S S E R T A T I O N IV. 243

bility in nature. This is die firft indance of the
operation of the plea of mercy through Chrift;
and an admirably glorious one it is, as it laid
the foundation for carrying into efFe6t the whole
defign of God's goodnefs, with reference to the
human kind.

The fame grace through Chrift which con-
tinued Adam in being after his lapfe, fo as that
innumerable multitudes might defcend from him,
provided ^Ifo for his and their deliverance frorri
the death to which they v/ere fubjedled by the
righteous judgment of God ; which deliverance
was no way conne6led with any thing to be per-
formed by them, but is an abfolute uncondi-
tional grant of favour; infomuch, that it is as
certain " all (hall be made alive in Chrift,'* be
their character as it may, as that they " all die
in Adam." This is another inflance of the
riches of God's grace; and an highly important
One it is. For had we come into exiftence fub-
jedted to death, without this provifion for deli-
verance from it, we could not have been put
under trial for '' an eternal reign in happy life/*
Such a trial, without fuch redemption, could no
more have taken place, than upon the fuppofition
of non-exiftence itfelf. And, let me add here,
the connedlion of this deliverance from death,
with our being under trial for an after eternal
life of happinefs, is that which conftitutes it a
manifeftation of the great goodnefs of God, be
the event as it may. Should any of Adam's
R 2 poRerity

244 DISSERTATION IV.

poflerlty behave, in the ftate of trial, as too
many of them will, fo as that their deliverance
from death will be followed with mifery, inftead
of happinefs, in the refurreflion- world, it ought,
notwithftanding, to be confidered as it is in
itfelf, and in the defign and view of God, a rich
gift of grace. For it is to be remembered, and
fhould be heedfully minded, this, like mod of
the other gifts of God, is capable of being mif-
improved to difadvantage : but, furely, its mif-
improvement, fo as to turn out an occafion
of unhappinefs, is far from deftroying it as
an inftance of divine goodnefs in its original
beftowment; becaufe it proves the occafion of
this unhappinefs, not from itfelf in its own pro-
per nature, but from our fin and folly in per-
verting its defign, and what it was fitted for,
and tended to. If, inftead of being redeemed
from death, that we may be crowned with im-
mortality, glory, and honour, in God's ever-
lafl:ing kingdom, we are redeemed from it fo as
to be the more miferable for this very redemp-
tion, the fault will be our own, we can caft the
blame no where but upon our own guilty heads.
We may, in this cafe, complain of our own
folly J but cannot, with the leafi: face of reafon,
pretend, that God has not been admirably good
and gracious.

It will further enhance our idea of the grcat-
nefs of God's grace, in reftoring that poflibility
of exiftence which had been forfeited by Adam's
lapfe, and in granting us redemption from the

deac^

DISSERTATION IV, 245

death all die in Adam, fo as that we fhall live
again after death, and may live in the enjoyment
of perfedt blefTednefs for ever, if we confider how
this was brought about : not by an adl of mere
fovereignty, but through the obedience of Jefus,
the only begotten Son of the Father, to death,
the curfed death of the crofs. By thus fubmitting
to die, he made atonement, not only for the
original lapfe, but for all the fins this would be
introduflory to, and might be the occafion of
being committed by any of the fons of men, in
any part or age of the world. We are accord-
ingly told by the infpired Paul, that '* we have
redemption through the blood of Chrifl, the for-
givenefs of fins, according to the riches of God's
grace." And he likewife exprefsly aflures us,
that " eternal life is the gift of God through
our Lord Jefus Chrifl:." Nor is there the leafl:
inconfiflency in affirming, that we are ** re-
deemed by grace," while, at the fame time, it
is faid alfo, the communication of this grace is
made through the merit, or worthiness, of
Chrifl:, founded on the pcrfeflion of his obedi-
ence, which eminently difcovered itfelf in his
ready fubmiflion to die, that he might be " the
propitiation for the fins of the world." For it
Ihould always be remembered, the appointment
of Chrifl: to be the Saviour of men, took rife
from the grace of God. The Scripture is par-
ticularly clear, and emphatically exprefs, upon
this point. Says the apoftle John, i Epifl:. iv. 9,

R 3 *' In

2^6 D I S S E R T A T I O N IV.

f' In this was manifefled the love of God towards
us, becaufe that God fent his only begotten Son
into the world, that we might live through
him." To the like purpofe are^ thofe words
of his, in the third chapter of his Go^p^', and
the 1 6th verfe, " God fo loved the world, that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whofocver
believeth in him might not pcrifn, but have
everlafting life." The words in both thcfe texts
are very emphatlcal, c;nd do in the Arongefl
manner allure us, that the gift of- Chrid to be
the Saviour, took rife folely from the grace of
God, And^ in truth, had not the Father of
mercies been moved by the infinite benevolence
of his ov;n nature, he never would have parted
with his own Son to come into our world, in
fadiion as a man, to accomplifli its falvation.
The motive hereto was abfolutely from himfelf,
his own effential, internal grace and pity. Some,
perhaps, may be ready to think, Chrift's coming
into the world to fuffer and die, was defigned to
pacify God's wrath, and influence him to have
mercy upon the finful fons of men. But this is
to entertain quite v/rong conceptions of the mat-
ter, and fuch as tend to reflecft great difhonour
upon the infinitely good God ; who was as much
inclined to mercy hfore as afler the fufferings of
" Chrifii: nor was the the death of this Son of his
love at all intended to move compaffion in him
towards finners. His heart was full of mercy
even frgm eternity; ^nd it was from this mercy

of

DISSERTATION IV. 247

of his, that Chrift was fent into the world, and
the great defign he was fent upon was, to make
way for the wife, jud, and holy exercife of that
mercy, v/hich the good God was eflentially, in-
finitely, and eternally inclined to exercife towards
the finful fons of men. And, in this view of the
matter, how amiable does the great and good
God appear, as well as his Son Jefus Chrift ?
How wonderful is the difplay of his grace ? If
he had faved the pofterity of Adam by an ad of
pleafure, in a mere fovereign way, this would
have argued grace. But how much greater is
the grace, how much more glorioufly does it
fhine forth, in the method he has pitched upon
for its conveyance, the miffion of his owri S.oii
into our world, to become incarnate, and fufFer,
and die, that way might be made for the wife
and juft exercife of the divine mercy towards the
human race! Herein is then the richeft difplay of
God's grace. He could not have rhade a more
illuftrious manifeftation of it. Here is love, to
be admired and adored by all angels as well as
men.

Befides what has been hitherto faid, all fuit-
able provifion is revealed, in the fcheme of grace
through Chrift, for our being made «' the work-
manfliip of God created again/' by being forme4
to an adial likenefs to the Deity in thofe moral
qualities;^ wherein confifts that meetness for the
glories ol the refurredion-world, without which
we cannot be crowned with them ; or, if wc
R 4 could.

^48 DISSERTATION IV.

could, it would rather enhance our mifery, than
be the occafion of happincfs to us. This is
fometimes efFefted, under the blefnng of God
upon parental tuition, before the introduflion
of thofe habits of fin, which denominate nnen
^f the fervants of corruption." But more com-
monly it is cONSEQiJENT upon their having been
led afide, and enticed by their animal appe-
tites, fo as to become " children of difobedi-
ence,'* and as fuch " the children of wrath."
The chief agent in this matter is the Spirit of
Christ i and he is the producer of the " new-
birth," the " new-creation," not by the infu-
fion or formation of any new faculty, either in
the fouls or bodies of men, but by fuperintend-
ing, diredling, and animating moral means, fo
as that the introdudlion of habitual, reigning
corruption fhall be prevented, or afterwards era-
dicated, as to its predominating influence, if it
has taken place : nor are men paffive in this
work, but co-operators with the good fpirit.
Whatever the Holy Ghoft does, he efFeds by
men themfelves in the ufe of their implanted
powers, and the moral means God has iaftituted,
and he accompanies with his efficacious bleflV
ing. This is the Scripture account, and fo
plainly as not to admit of any reafonablc dif-
pute.

Need I now fay that the gofpel-fcheme of
man's falvation is grafted on the original lapfe,
and clofely connected with what tha^ paturally

lecj

DISSERTATION IV. 249

led to? Or, that we are infinitely beholden to the
good God, and his Son Jcfus Chrift, for the
profpeds we have upon the foot of redeeming
grace? The rich grace of God through the
WORTHINESS of Chrift, as manifefted in the
gofpel-plan of man's falvation, notwithftanding
the lapfe, and all its confequences, is often the
delightful theme the facred penmen employ their
thoughts upon. This raviftied the heart of the
great Apoftle of the Gentiles. He is fcarce able
to fpeak of it but in the higheft ftrains of ad-
miring, adoring gratitude.

And that is the hymn of praife, in which the
redeemed fhould unite as one, in finging, upon
^his great occafion, *' unto him that loved us,
and waftied us from our fins in his own blood,
and hath made us kings, and priefts unto God
and his Father; to him be glory and dominion
for ever and ever ! Amen."

[ 2SO ]

SUPPLEMENTAL DISSERTATION

O N

Romans, Chap. V. from the 12th to the
20th Verfe, more efpecially thofe Words,
*' For that all have Jinned^' and " by
cue mail's d if obedience many ivere made
fmnersr

THESE words, whether in themfelves hard
to be underftood, or not, have greatly
embarrafled interpreters, and been the occafion
of very uncomfortable difputes in the Chriftian
world \ fome having uncharitably contended for
this i^x^^^y and others, with as little candor, for
that. And after all -they have faid on either
fide, to afcertain their true meaning, they ap-
pear to me very evidently to have m/iffed it.

Mr. Locke fays, " for that all have finned/*
means, that all, by realbn of the lapfe of the one
man, Adam, ^^ are become mortal." The me-
tonymy he relies on, in fupport of this interpret-
ation, I (hould not objed: to, however ap-
parently harfh, provided a recurrence to it was
neceflaryj which is far from being the truth

of

Supplemental DisseIitation. 251

of the cafe. His paraphrafe of the 12th verfe,
in which thefc words are found, runs thus:
ff Wherefore, to give you a ftate of the whole
f^ matter from the beginning, you muft know,
*^ that as by the ad of one man, Adam, the far
" therof us all, fm entered into the world, and
<^ death, which was the punifhment annexed to'
" the offence of eating the forbidden fruit, en-
^^ tered by that fin, for that all Adam's poflerity
*^ thereby became mortal.'* It is obvious, at
firft fight, that' the words, £(p w, tranflated in the
text, and retained in this paraphrafe for that,
are brought in as the reafon of what is affirmed
in the foregoing part of the fentence. *•' Death^^
which was the punifliment annexed to the offence
pf eating the forbidden fruit, entered by that
fin, FOR THAT Adam's pofterity thereby became
mortal.*' In this way of interpretation, f<p w is
conftrued to fignify precifely the fame thing with
eo quody for thaty becaufe. But I will venture to
affirm, there is not another place, in the whole
New Teftament, in which this is its fenfe : nor can
it, as I imagine, be thus tranflated, according
to any rule of grammar, unlefs it is taken ad-
verbially; which is fo uncommon a ufe of this
phrafe (if indeed it ever was fo ufed), that it
ought not to be admitted, unlefs abfolute necef-
fity fhould call for it. Befides, it is not true
that Adam's pofterity, by his lapfe, became
mortal. Adam himfelf, in innocence, was na-
turally mortal. *^ The tree of life," or, in

other

a^Z Supplemental Dissertation.

other words, the fpecial favour of God, was that,
and that only, which could have made his mor-
tal immortal, had he not fell by tranfgrefTion.
Adam's poflerity come into exiftence, as he was
originally made, with corruptible mortal bodies.
The lapfe had this efFe6l. The all-wife, righteous
Governor of the world was pleafed to take occa-
fion from it to (hut up all accefs to " the tree of
life,'* and ordain, that that which was naturally
mortal, as being of the duft, fhould aflually die,
and return to duft. The reafon of death, there-
fore, by means of the lapfe, was not that we were
thereby made mortal, but that the grace is with-
drawn, which would have continued us in being
for ever, though we were naturally corruptible
mortal creatures. Moreover, it may be worth
obferving, thofe words, in this I2th verfe, " and
fo death hath pafled upon all men," are capable
of being underftood in two fenfes only ; either
as meaning that all men, by means of Adam's
offence, are fubjefled to death, or that death
has adually, and in event, pafled upon them.
And, in whichever of thefe fenfes we interpret
the words, the following ones, " for that all
have finned," cannot be explained, with the
leaft propriety, as Mr. Locke explains them,
<' for that all are become mortal."

If by the words, " and fo death pafled upon
all men," the Apoftle is fuppofed to mean, ac-
cording to the flrft of thefe fenfes, that all men,
by means of the one offence of Adam, are una-

voidabJy

Supplemental Dissertation. 253

voidably fubjeded to death ; what follows, in the
next claufe, " for that all have finned," cannot be
explained, " for that all thereby became mor-
tal/* without making the Apoftle argue very
weakly. His reafoning upon this interpreta-
tion will run thus : All men, by means of the
one offence of their firft father, are fubjeflcd to
death, becaufe they were thereby brought under
, this fubjedlion. For being fubjeded to death by
this offence, and being thereby made mortal,
mean precifely one and the fame thing. It would
be a great difhonour to the Apoftle to make him
reafon after this manner j and yet it is obvious,
he miufl reafon thus upon the fenfe of the above
explication.

Nor would the matter be much mended, (hould
we take the other mentioned fenfe of the words,
*' and fo death paffed upon all men ;" underfland-
ing by them the adlual death of all men ; its
having eventually paffed upon them ; which,
perhaps, is their true fenfe, that being fpoken of
as already brought into effedl, which certainly
will be, a mode of diflion fometimes made ufe
of in Scripture. The reafoning of the Apoftle
upon this interpretation will fland thus : All men
have died, by means of Adam's lapfe, becaufe
they were thereby made mortal : which manner
of arguing is not fo fatisfa6lory as might have
been expefled from a philofopher, much more
from an apoflle, when purpofely treating of

death

2^4 Supplemental Dissertation.

death in a moral view. And^ in this view of
death, the ground, caufe, or reafon, of its having
** pafled upon all men," is not becaufe they were
mortal, but becaufe this was the will, appoint-
ment, or conftitution of God, taking rife froni
the lapfe of the one man, Adam. If, therefore,
the Apoftle had it in defign, as Mr. Locke's inter-
pretation fuppofes, to afTign, in the lad claufc
of this 1 2th verfe, the reafon of the foregoing
daufe, he would doubtlefs have given the true
one, namely, the conftitution of God, grounded
On the offence of Adam; for to this it is owing,
and to this only, that ^^ death has pajGTed upon all

men."

Dr. Taylor interprets the words, " have
finned," in the like harfh metonymical fenfe
with Mr. Locke j but has taken care to guard
againft his fault, by making the relative w to
agree with Oai/osro?, the next fubftantive that goes
before, and the prepofition fTrt to fignify " as
far as." His paraphrafe of the verfe accordingly
runs thus : *' By one man, Adam, fin entered
*^ into the world. He began tranfgreffion, and
*' through his own fin, death alfo entered into the
*' world ; and so, in this way, through his own
*^ own fin, death came upon all mankind as far.

" EVEN AS WHICH, ALL MEN ARE SUFFERERS,

*^ through his one offence." Conformably to
this interpretation, in his note upon £(p co ttxvtk;
7)y.ocprovy he fays, *^ 1 ftrongly fufpe(5t, f^ u
*' ftands here under a particular emphafis, as

** denoting

Supplemental Dissertation. ^^^

«* denoting the terminus ad quemy or the titmofl
" length of the confequence of Adaai's fin*
<« Unto which, as far even as which, all
** [iijtAapToj/, or IV ccuapricc ftcTii/] are under fin, or ia
" a ftate of fufFering. As if he had faid, fo far
<^ have the confequences of Adann's fin extended,
" and fpread their influence among nnankind,
*' introducing not only a curfe upon the earth,
" and forrow and toil upon its inhabitants, buc
*^ even deaths tiniverfal deaths in every part, and
" in all ages, of the world/' In fupporc of this
criticifm, he particularly mentions two texts, in
which he fuppofes this is the fenfe in which E(p ca
is to be underflood. I have carefully attended
to what he has offered upon thefe texts, but ain
clearly and fully fatisfied, for reafons we may
have occafion to mention by and bye, that this is
not the meaning of f(p u in either of them: nor
is this phrafe ever ufed in this fenfe, in the
New Teftament writings. And fo far is it from
ftanding under a particular emphafis, by being
tranflated, ** as far even as which," that fuch a
conilruftion exhibits a fenfe that is comparatively
low and lean. For, according to this conftruc-
tion, the whole meaning of the Apoftle in the
important words, E(p w Travrf? Tiwaprov, is only this,
that the utmost we fuffer, in confequence of the
one offence of our original progenitor, is death;
an obfervation, as I imagine, of little weight :
to be fure, there is nothing ejiiphatically weighty
in it, unlefs we ihould fuppofe, the Apoflle
5 was

256 Supplemental Dissertation.

was apprehenfive his readers would take more
into his meaning when he fpake of Adam's fin,
as that by means of which " death had pafTed
upon all men," than he intended, and fo added
the words, zcp u Trai/rs? n(xccpTovy to prevent fuch a
miftake, by declaring, that the confequence of
this fin extended, at farthefl, no farther than
death. But there is no perceivable ground,
either in the words themfelves, or any thing they
are related to, for fuch a fuppofition. The fhort
of the matter is, the Apoftlc, having faid, in a
very concife manner, that *^ fin entered into the
world by one man, Adam," and death by this
fin of his, and that death had accordingly
«« pafled upon all men," adds thereupon thofe
emphatically fignificant words, s^ u Travrf? nfAotprov ;
which, if they mean no more than an affirma-
tion, importing that this death is the utmost
mankind fuffer in confequence of the lapfe of
Adam, they convey a thought not fufficiently
important to be crowded into a fhort fentence,
fummarily containing an account of the greatefi
difadvantages that ever befell the human race.

Another fenfe ftill is given to the words^ '' for
that all have finned,'* by the excellent Mr.
Grove. Having cited Rom. v. 12. he goes on*,
" The meaning of this place, which hath occa-
'« fioned fo much angry difpute, feems to be no
*' more than this, that " there is no man liveth,

* Pofthumous Sefmons, vol, iii, page 403.

«' and

Supplemental Dissertation, 257

»^ and fhall not fee death," becaufe *' there is no
" man liveth and finneth not." So that, though
*' it was by '' one man" that fin came into the
" world, and death by fin, yet (hould not death
" have adlually " pafTed upon all men," if all,
'^ as they grew up to reafon, had not a6lually
** finned; the Jewy " after the fimilitude of A-
*' dam's tranfgrtfilon," againft a pofitive law;
" the Geniile, not after the fame fimilitude, but
" only againft the law of nature." Dr. Shuck-
ford feems to have been in much the fame way of
thinking upon this matter. Says he*, " The
" Scriptures conclude " all men under fin,"
" Gal. iii. 21.; affirm, that there is " no man on
" earth that finneth not," i Kings, viii. 46.
*' This, therefore, being an allowed truth, that
*' fin was in the world until the law; that from
<^ Adam to Mofes, not Adam and Eve only, but
** every individual of their defcendants, had ac^
" tml fins of their own ; the apoftle reafons, that
*^ there can be no injuftice pretended, that £v tw

** Ada/A 7rai/T£? a7roOi/7]a-xa(rai/, that *^ in Adam all

*^ die," I Cor. xv. 22.; £^ w irocj/Tsg nixoipTov^ Rom.
*^ V. 12.: not "in whom all finned," as our
'^ marginal reference would corred our verfion ;
*' for had this been intended, it would have been

*^ iv w, like iv TW A^ccfjc iravrsg a7ro9i/>;(rH8o-iy. E^ cj

*' is, ed quody in thaty or becaufe. " As by one

<' man," fays the apoftle, «^ fin entered into the

" world, and death by fin," even fo [xat out«?],

» Preface to the Creation and Fall of Man, page 126.

S in

25B SuPPLEMENtAL iDlSSERTATION^

*«■ in like manner, i, e. as defervedly " death
*« hath palled upon ail men." The foundation
** of which reafoning is plain) for death being
*' the wages of fin/' and all men having done
*' the works of our firil parents, having actually
** finned as well as they^ we not only receive in
'* dying, but by our fins deferve the fame

'^ wages.

According to both thefe valuable writers, the
reafon why Adam's pofterity die is, becaufe they
have finned themfelves. Death pafTes upon them
becaufe they have, in their own perfons, tranf-
greflfed: whereas, it is as plain as it can well be
made, not only from the Apoftle's words in this
paragraph, but from the whole fcope of his rea-
foning in it, that the rife of death is to be fetch-
ed, not from the fins which men have commit-
ted in their own perfons, but from the *^ one
offence of the one man," Adam. The reader,
if he pleafes, may turn back to the i52d, 153d,
and 154th pages^ where he may fee, as I imagine,
abundant proof of this. Now, it is impoffible
to be true, that men's fubjecStion to death lliould
be owing to their own perfond fins, if their fub-
jedlion hereto is grounded on the lapfe of the
one man, Adam. And that this is the true rife
of that mortality we come into exifience una-
voidably liable to, is fo often, and fo perempto-
rily affirmed, and argued from, by the apoftle
Paul, as a certain truth in this portion of Scrip-
ture, that I cannot but wonder any^ who have

been

Supplemental Dissertation. 259

been at the pains attentively to read what he has
wrote, fhould not perceive that they diredJy con-
tradid him, while they afcribe it to the fins men
have been aflually guilty of in their own perfons,
that " death palTes upon them.'^ And it is mat-
ter of flill greater wonder, that fuch fenfible and
learned men as thofe, whofe words I have quoted,
fhould not have had it in remembrance, that a
very great part (fome think the greateft) of thofe
who are born into the world, die out of it before
they become capable of 772 or a I zd:ion. Surely, it
will not be faid of any of thefe, that their dying
was owing to any a^ual fins they had themfelves
perfonally committed. It mufb be afcribed.to fome
other caufe. And if we may believe the apoftle
Paul, it was in confequence of a Divine confti-
tution, occafioned by the *^ one offence" of their
firft father.

As to the common interpretation, which fays,
we all finned in Adam, by being chargeable with
his fault, and would reprefent the apoftle as in-
tending to affirm, that his fin was as truly ours
as his, and that we are juftly punifhable for it:
this interpretation, I fay, cannot poflibly be true;
and for this very good reafon ; becaufe it is a mo-
ral inconfiftency to affirm that the fin of one mo-
ral agent can be the fin of another, unlefs he has
been, in one way or another, voluntarily acceflTary
to it. Adam and hispoflerity being diftindl moral
agents, his finning could not be their finning.
This would imply falfehood, and a contradidion

Si to

26o Supplemental DissERTATiojii

to the nature of things; as hereby they would be
viewed and treated as one, who were not one.

In anfwer to this, it has been faid by a late
writer, and a truly great one*, " This objedion,
«' however fpecious, is really founded on a falfe
" hypothefis, and wrong notion of what we call
" sameness, or oneness, among created things;
«^ and the feeming force of the objedtion arifes
" from ignorance, or inconfideration of the de-
" gree, in which created identity^ or onenefsy with
" part exiflence, in general depends on the fo-
" vereign conftitution and law of the Supreme
" Author, and Dilpofer of the univerfe." Hav-
ing obferved this, he proceeds to a metaphyfical
confideration o{ identity:, or onenefs^ chiefly with a
view to fhow, that onenejs in different rerp€6ls and
degrees, and to various purpofes, " depends on
the fovereign conftitution of God,*' according to
which it is " ordered, regulated, and limited, in
every refpedtj'' fome things, *^ exifting in differ-
ent times and places, being treated by their Crea-
tor as one in cne refpe^^ and others in another -y
fome united for this communication, others for
that; but all, according to the fovereign pleafure
of the Fountain of all being and operation."
Upon which he fays -f, '^ I am perfuaded no folid
*^ reafon can be given, why God,^who conftitutes
*' all other created union^ or onenefsy according to
" his pleafure, and for what purpofes, communi-

* Ml. Edwards, on " Original Sin," page 357.
f Ibid, page 347.

'^ cations.

Supplemental Dissertation. 261

*^ cations, and effcfls, he pleafes, may not efta-
" blifh a conftitution, whereby the natural pofte-
*^ rity of Adam^ proceeding from him, much as
'^ the buds and branches from the (lock or root of
*^ a tree, Ihould be treated as one with him for
^^ the derivation, either of righteoufnefs and
^' communion in reward, or of the lofs of righte-
** oufnefs and confequent corruption and guilt."
From this conftitution of God, making and treat-
ing Adam and his pofterity as one, he^ fuppofes,
'' it will follow, that both guilt and expofednefs
^^ to punifiiment, and alfo depravity of heart,
•' came upon Adam's pofterity juft as they came
** upon him, as much as if he and they had all
*' co-exifted, like a tree with many branches;
*^ allowing only for the difference necelTarily re-
*^ fulting from the place Adam flood in, as the
*' head or root of the whole, and being firft and
" moft immediately dealt with, and mqft imme-
^^ diately ading and fufFering." To prevent
being mifunderftood, or to explain himfelf more
fully, he fays, in a marginal note, page 329.
" My meaning may be illuftrated thus : let us
<^ fuppofe that Adam and all his pofterity had co-
*« exifted, and that his pofterity had been,
<« through a law of nuture eftabliftied by the
" Creator, united to hinfi, fomething as the
*« branches of a tree are united to the root, or
" the members of the body to the head, fo as to
f* conftitute, as it were, one complex person, or

* Mr. Edwards, on " Oriainal Sin," page 327.

s 3 " Q^%

iSi Supplemental Dissertation.

*' ONE MORAL WHOLE; fo that, by the law of
'^ union, there fliould have been a communion and
*^ co-mftsnce in a6ls and affedtions, all jointly par-
*^ ticipatingj and all concurring, as one whole,
<^ in the difpofition and adion of the head; as
<« we fee in the body natural, the whole body is
" afTe<5ted as the head is affected, and the whole
^« body concurs when the head ads. Now, in
" this cafe, the hearts of all the branches of nnan-
" kind, by tlie conftitution of nature, and law of
^« union, would have been afi^edled juft as the
^« heart of Adam, their comaion root, was af-
" fedled. When the heart of the root, by a full
«^ difpofition, committed the firfl: fin, the hearts
" of all the branches would have concurred; and
" when the heart of the root, as a punifliment of
<< the fin committed, was forfaken of God, in like
" manner would it have fared with all the
«f branches; and when the heart of the root, in
*« coniequcnce of this, was confirmed in perma"
" nent depravity, the cafe w-.juld have been the
*' fame with all the branches/' In another note,
page 347. he has thefe words: *' I appeal to fuch
" as are not wont to content themfelves with
*' judging by a fuperficial appearance and view of
" things, but are habituated to examine things
*' ftridly and clofely, whether, on fuppoficion
" that all mankind had co-exiftcd in the manner
*' mentioned before, any good reafon can be
" given, why their Creator might not, if he had
*^ pleafed, have ellablilhed fuch an umon between
6 • <c Adam

Supplemental Dissertatiok. 263

" Adam and the reft of mankind, as was in that •
" cafe fuppofed? Particularly, if it had been the
" cafe, that Adam's pofterity had adually, ac-
" cording to a law of nature fomehow grown
«^ out of him, and yet remained contiguous and
*« literally united to him, as the branches to a
^' tree, or the members of the body to the head •,
*' and had all, before the fall, exifled together at
*< the fame time^ though in different places^ as the
" head and members are in different places: in
" this cafe, who can determine that the Author
^' of nature might not, if it had pleafed him,
f« have eftablidied fuch an imon between the
" root and branches of this complex being, as
^* that all fhould conftitute one moral whole; fo
'f that, by the law of union, there fhould be a
*' communion in each moral alteration, and
" that the heart of every branch Ihould, at the
^' fame moment, participate with the heart of the
" root, be conformed to it, and concurring with
** it in all its afFedlions and ads, and fo jointly
" partaking in its ftate, as a part of the fame thing?
" Why might not God, if he had pleafed, have
'^ fixed fuch a kind of union as this, an union of
*' the various parts of fuch a moral whole, as well
" as many other unions which he has actually
" fixed, according to his fovereign pleafure?
«' And if he might, by his fovereign conflitution,
" have eflablifhed fuch an union of the various
*' branches of mankind, when exifling in differ-
"l fnt ^lacfSy I do not fee why be might not alfo

S 4 " dq

26^ Supplemental Dissertation,

" do the fame, though they exifl: in different times*
*' I know not why luccefllon, or diverfity of time,
" (hould make any fuch conilituted union more
" unreafbnable than diverjity of place.''

1 have tranfcribed thus largely what has been
faid by the above-mentioned writer, in juflifica-
tion of our having finned when Adam fell by
tranfgrefTion, left it fhould be imagined I had
rarelefsly, or wilfully, mifreprefented his mean-
ing, fo as to make him fpeak abfurdly, in order
to refiefl an odium on him. It is to me exceed-
ing ftrange, that a gentleman of his underftand-
ing fhould fo impofe on himfelf, as, in fober fe-
rioufnefs, to offer that for the truth of God which
is not only a direcl contradiflion to the Scripture,
but to that moral dijcernment mankind are naturally
endowed with.

Nothing is more evident, than that the apoftle
Paul, in the paragraph containing the words, from
whence it is pretended, that we finned when
Adam finned, is fo far from confidering Adam and
Jiis pofterity as one, one complex person, that
he particularly and abundantly diftinguifhes be-
tween him and them-, reprefenting him as dis-
tinct from them as they are from one another.
In the lath verfe, the *' one man,'* Adam, by
whoje fin death, it is faid, entered into the world,
is directly pointed out as a -perfon dijiin£l from the
*^ all men,*' upon whom death, by this fin of his^
has palled. In the 15th verfe, where the " offence
of one," and " death to many," is fpoken of, the

eve

Supplemental Dissertation. 2^5

one and the many are reprefented as feverally dijlin5i
from each other. In the 17th verfc, the «^ one
man," through whofe offence " death reigned/'
is viewed as a diJlinB perfon from the " they which
receive the gift of righteoufnefs by Jefus Chrift."
In the 1 8th verfe, the ^' one/' by whom the of-
fence was committed, is as certainly diftinguifhed
from the " all men" upon whom ** judgment
came to condemnation." And in the 19th verfe,
the " one man" is again diftinguiihed from the
*' many," who, " by his difobedience, were
rnade finners." How, or in what fenfe they
were made finners, we fhall explain afterwards.
But, in whatever fenfe this is underftood, the
*' one man," and " the many," that is, Adam
and his pofterity, are not confidered as one and
the fame perfon^ but as fo many dijiin^ individuals
of the fame fpecies.

Befides, it could not be the fin of " one man,'*
namely, Adam, that brought death into the world,
if his eating the forbidden fruit was the fin of all
bis pofterity together with himfelf, made one com-
plex PERSON by a Divine conftitution. Upon
this fuppofition, it was for their own fin, noc
the fin of Adam, merely or only, that ^' judc^e-
ment came upon them to condemnation." And
yet the apoftle Paul, as has been more than once
obferved, has been particular in his care to afcer-
tain it as a truth, that '' the many," the " all
men," are fubje^led to death, not for any fin of
^heir own, but in confequence of the fin of " one

man,"

266 Supplemental Dissertation.

man,'* fpecified and diHinguifhed by his nanac,
Adam.

It may be further faid, as worthy of fpecial no-
tice, that the Apoftle, in the 14th verfe, exprefsly
affirms, that '' death reigned from Adam to Mo-
fcsy even over them that had not finned after the
fimilitude of Adam's tranfgrefiion.'* This can-
not be true, if they, in common with the reft of
mankind, v/ere so one with Adam, as that the fin
committed by him W2s not the fin of d^firigle indi-
vidual, but of the wbok human race^ conftituted
by God one and the fame complex perfon. In this
view of the cafe, all the pofterity of Adam, as
truly as he him.felf, muft fin by the fame will, by
the fame aft, and in the fame perfon, again ft the
fame law. And, certainly, if they finned thus,
they finned " after the fimilitude of Adam's tranf-
grefiion." For diffimilitude there cannot be in fin
committed by the fame ad:, and the fame will of
one and the fame perfon^ againft the fame law.
But the apoftle peremptorily declares, that "death
did not reign over" Adam^s pofterity for any fin
they had committed that bore a " likenefs to A-
dam*s tranfgrefTion.'* And it would, indeed, be
the moft myfterious, unaccountable thing in all
nature, if Adam's pofterity were fo one person
with him, as that when he finned in taking and
eating of the forbidden fruit, it was as true that
they finned alfo, and by that very a6l of his: for,
upon this fuppofttion, they muft have been adlu-
ally finners from the beginning of the world, that

is.

Supplemental Dissertatiok. *i.()'^

is, myriads of them, thoufands of years before
they had a being. A more fliocking abfurdity
never entered into the heart of man! This leads
to fay —

That the notion of a divine eftablifhment,
making Adam and his pofterity one complex perfon
for the communication of fin and guilt, is as con-v
trary to the principle of moral difcernment, com-
mon to all, as it is to Scripture. We feel its
falfehood, whenever we attend to the perception
of our minds. No man is more certain, that he
is not one perfon with his next father, or with the
reft of the human fpecies, than that he is not one
perfon with the original progenitor. We are, each
one, confcious toourfelves that we exift perfonally
diftintSt from Adam, as well. as the other indivi-
duals of the fame kindj that ic was i'^^ not ^^,
thai eat of the forbidden tree; and that it neither
was, or poflibly could be, an a6l of oursy in a
moral fenfe, any more than in a. natural one, fo
as that it could be chargeable on us as our fault.
Who, among the fons of Adam, ever felt the
reproaches of an accufing condemning confcience
for the fin of their firft father, ages before they
v/ere born? It may be peremptorily pronounced,
no one of them ever did. They may have been
affefted with grief, when in contemplation of the
*' one offence" of the firft man; efpecially, as it
has been the occafion of the introduction of fo
much evil into the world: but they are fo formed
t>y the God of nature, as not to be capable of

condemning

268 Supplemental Dissertation.

condemning themfelves, and feeling the uneafl^
nefs of guilty remorfe, for what they are not con-
fcious to thennfelves they were any ways accefifary
to. And nothing is more certain, than that we
have no confcioufnefs of having had any hand, in
any fhape or form whatever, in the fin of the one
man, Adam. And this, could nothing elfe be
faid upon the matter, is a demonftration that no
eftablifhment was ever made by God, in virtue
of which Adam and his pofterity were fo confti-
tuted one complex perforiy as that they all volunta-
rily concurred in the one acl of difobedience,
-which brought death into the world. Can it be
fuppofed, without the grofTeft abfurdity, that the
all'wife God fhould make an identical complex one of
Adam and his pofterity, fo as that they Ihould be
looked upon as having finned when he eat of the
forbidden fruit, and, at the fame tim^e, leave them
^11, throughout all generations, without the lead
confcioufnefs that they had thus finned j efpecially
as this fin of theirs, as is pretended, flood conned-
cd with the tremendous wrath of the Almighty
throughout eternity? Such a conflitution, while,
at the fame time, no member of this complex one^
but Adam only, could be confcious of fin, or
guilt arifing from it, is a downright inconfifl-
cncy with the whole fyflem of moral government;
a mere rnetaphyfical invention, contrived for no
other purpofe than to ferve a previoufiy imbibed
hypothefis. This writer allows, that '* confciouf-
nefs in intelligent beings is efTcntial to perfonaj

identity.'^

Supplemental Dissertation; 269

identity/' How then could Adam and his pof-
terity be the fame complex one^ to the purpofes of
fin and wrath, without ihe fame principle of con-
fcioufnefs? In order to their being one, his con-
fcioufnefs nnuft have been ibeirs, and theirs his;
or, in other words, one and the fame confciouf-
nefs mud have flowed from the bead to the urn led
memhersy as a common principle, in which they
were all partakers. Is this now the truth of
fadt? So far from it, that Adam's pofterity are as
diftind exiflences from him, as they are from one
another, or from any of the inferior creatures.
He is no otherwife the head, or root, of his pofte-
rity, the " tree out of which they grow as fo
many branches/' than as God was pleafed, through
him, according to an eflabliflied order in nature
to give them a being in the world. When brought
into being, they are fo many individual perfons,
identical ones, of the fame kind. Inftead of be-
ing branches that *^ every moment participate
with the heart of the root'' [Adam], and that are
*^ conformed to if, and concurring with it in all
its affedtions and adts," they are themfelves fo many
eflentially diftinfl trees, the branches of which
grow out of their own root, with which, not with
the root Adam, they have vital communion.
Their volitions, afFedlions, and all the a6ls and
exercifes of their powers, as moral agents, are
from themfehesy not from Ada?n^ in virtue of any
conftituted union whatever. To what purpofe is
it then to " appeal to thole who are habituated to
' " examine

270 Supplemental Dissertatiojt.

*^ examine things clofely, whether God mighc
** not have nnade Adam's pofterity grow out of
** him, and be contiguous, and literally united
" to him, fo as that they fhould exift together at
" the fame time, and, by an efcablilhed union,
*« conftitute one moral whole?^^ Whether God
might, or might not, have made this the eflablilh-
ment of nature, is neither proof or illuftration in
the prefent cafe: for it is a fiubborn facft, t,hat
Adam's pofterity. are miade elTentially otherwife.
God conftituted him, as has been faid- the fecon-
dary caufe, through which he would communicate
exiftence to the human kind 5 but, being brought
into exiftence, they are no more one with Adam,
or united to him, or dependent on him, for any of
their exertions, natural or moral, than they are
united to, and dependent on, their immediate pre-
deceiTors, nor are they at all more faulty for any
fin of hisy than for any of the fins of any of their
forefathers.

The plain truth is, a Divine conftitution, mak-
ing Adam and his pofterity one conrpkx ferfon^ one
moral ivhcky fo as that there ftiouid be a *' com-
«^ munion and co-exiftence in afls and affedlions,
*' all participa,ting, and all concurring as one
*^ whole in the difpofition and actions of the head,
*^ as we fee in the body natural, the whole body
" is affeded as the head is affeded, and the
*' whok body concurs when the head adls/'
Such a conftitution, I fay, with refpecft to fuch
moral beings as men are, is not only an abfurdity

in

Supplemental Dissertation. 271

in fpcculation, but an impoflibility in nature. No
eflablifhnfientby God ornnan, can make the voli-
tions and ads of any moral agent what they are
nor. And we are as fure as we can be of any
thing, that the volition and a6l of Adam, with
reference to the forbidden tree> was not the voli-
tion and acl of any of his poflerity, No^ pre-
tended law of union could make them foj and
for this decifive reafon, becaufe Adam and his
poflerity are fever ally diftind moral agents, hav-
ing a diftind power of willing, chufing, and adh-
ing. Had Adam's poflerity been made, by a law
of nature, to " grow out of him as their root,
and been contiguous to him as branches of the
fame tree," having, at the fame time, one com-
mon confcioufnefs, and power of volition and
acling, fo as that when he willed and a6ted, it
would have been the confcious will and atfl of the
branches together with him, there mJght be
fome pretence for their being one complex perfon,
one moral whole : but as the eftabliflimen: of God,
in confequence of which Adam is the father of
his poilericy, is efTentially diifcrent, they being,
notwithflanding their derivation from him, fo
many diftincl perfons, or identical ones, furnifh-
ed with powers of their owuy for the ufe of which
only they are accountable. I fay, this being the
cftablilliment of nature, the confidering Adam
and his pofterity fo one^ as that tliey all adtcd,
when he took and eat of the forbidden fruit, is as
wild a conceit of a vain imagination as was ever

publillied

272 Supplemental Dissertatio^t.

publifhed to the world. It cannot be paralleled
with any thing, unlefs^he dodtrine of tranfuhftan-
tiation. There is, in truth, a confpicuous ana-
logy between them. Catholics firft interpret the
words, " this is my body — this is my blood/* in
the ftri(5l literal fenfe. When they are told, this
fenfe is a contradiction to our fight, touch, and
tafte, 'and that it is impofTible to be true, as the
body of Chrifl: cannot be in heaven and upon
earth, and in ten thoufand different places too, at
one and the fame time: I fay, when they are thus
urged, their only refuge is, the almighty power
of God. To this^ therefore, they profanely re-
cur; endeavouring, by all the methods of meta-
phyfical fubtiity, to make that true, by the help
gf this power, which is certainly falfe, and not
within the reach of Omnipotence to make other-
wife. In like manner, our author, and thofe who
have adopted his fentiments, firft fuppofe it lite-
rally and ftridly true, that the " one offence of
Adam was the offence of all," that *' all by his
one act of difobedience became, properly fpeak-
ing, finners," as well as he. When they are
minded, that Adam and his pofterity are diftindt
moral agents, and that the fin of one moral
agent cannot be the fin of another, recourfe is had
to the Deity for a law of union j in confequence of
which it is pretended, that Adam and his natural
defcendants were so conftituted one person, as
that it is a real truth, that they tranfgreffed, as
well as he, when he eat of the forbidden fruit;

which

Supplemental Dissertation. 273

which is a diredl contradi(5tion to the perceptions
of all mankind, arrived to a Capacity of nnoral
difcernmentj for they all intuitively perceive, that
they are feverally identical ones, as diftinft
in their exiftence, confcioufnefs, and all their
powers of ading, from him, as they are from one
another: on which account it is impofTible, his
will, or a(ft> in the firfl: tranfgreflion, (hould be
theirs. No power, however great, no will, how-
ever arbitrary, could make this, true j becaufe it
is, in nature, a falfehood, and as certainly known
to be fo, as that two and two are not equal to five^
and cannot be made to be fo.

Having rejeded thefe interpretations, it may
reafonably be expelled 1 fhould fubftitute another
jn their room, which can better be fupported. And
this I (hall do, by exhibiting a verfion of the 12th
verfe, which, though not hit upon before that I
know of, may yet truly convey the fentiment in-
tended 5 as it is eafy and natural, and offers a
fenfe that is intelligible, important, and, perhaps,
the beft conneded of any with the Apoflle's whole
difcourfe.

I would read the verfe (dropping its compara-
tive form, at prefent, that I may be the more
readily underftood) after the following manner —
•* By one man fin entered into the world, and
death by fins and thus, in this way, death pafTed
upon all men, upon which, they have all finned/'
As if the Apoftle had faid. By the one man, Adam,
fin entered into the world, and death by his fin, in

T eating

274 Supplemental Dissertation*

eating of the forbidden fruit; and thus, by this onfi
offence of this one man, death hath come upon
all men, upon which, in consequence of
WHICH, they have all finned.

I take it to have been the Apoftle's deiign, in
this text, to lead our thoughts up to our firfi:
father, Adam, as the original fource, or occafional
caufey o{ fin as well as death : only, it ihould be
particularly minded, as Jn and death are eflen-
tially different, the one being a natural^ the
other a moral evil, it is not pofTible he fhould be
the fource of them both in the fame way. The
fentence of God, taking rife from Adam's lapfe,
may well enough be confidered as that^ by means
of which all men are fubjefled to death : but they
cannot, in virtue of any judicial fentence, either
of God, or man, be made finners, without their
their own wicked choice ; becaufe the idea of fin
is, in the nature of things, abfolutely founded on
this. It is therefore obfervable, the Apoftle does
not fay, " and thus," " in this way," that is, by
the judicial fentence of God, occafioned by the
lapfe of the one man, Adam, death and sin
«< have pafTed upon all men j" but death, in this
way, " hath paffed upon all men," upon which,
IN consequence of WHICH, they have finned
themfelvess as they muft do, if they are finners
at all.

And it is eafy to fee, how all become finners
upon, or IN consequence of, their fubjedlion
to deathy through the lapfe of their firfl father,

Adam.

Supplemental Dissertation, 275

Adam. For, by this death, which fhould be
critically minded, we are to underftand, not
death confidered fimply, of nakedly, in itfelfj
but as connected, in the appointment of God,
with that vanity, toil, forrow, and fufFering, by
which it is occafioned, and with which it is ac-
companied, invariably, in alefs or greater degree,
with refped to all mankind. This is the apoflle
Paul's notion of the death which comes upon
the pofterity of Adam univerfally, through his
lapfe. He ufes this word in a complex fenfe,
conformably to the idea Mofes has given us of
it, in his account of the original fentence, doom-
ing man to death j meaning by it, the ap-
pendages of death, as well as death itfelf; in-
cluding in his idea of it, not merely the deflruc-
tion of life, but the whole dif advantage under
which we hold life fince the fall, which has
brought a curfe upon the earth, and fubjedled us
to a ftate of labour and forrow, which, at lafl,
will end in the diflblution of our prefent mortal
frame. Now, the excitements to fin, or the
temptations by which we are overcome to commit
it, do principally follow upon our being thus,
in this fenfe, fubjedled to death ; that is, they
are, in a great meafure, owing to the fituation
and circumftances of our mortal bodies ^ in this
ftatc of toil and forrow, which ends in the de-
flru6lion of life. From hence arife thofe fears,
with refpedt to the lofs of life, which are fo great
an occafion of fin, in all its various kinds : from
T 2 hence

2^6 Supplemental DissERTATfoN',

hence arlfe that impatience and difcontent, that
anxious folicitude and perplexing conCerh, which
render life far more burdenfome, than It is dep-
rived to us from the fimple conftiriition of God t
From hence arife the earneft purfuits of men, in
every unlawful way, in all the various methods of
unrighteoufnefs, to avoid the evil things, and
come to the poflefTion of the good things of this
prefcnt ftate : and from hence, in a word, arife
thofe numerous lufts which " war againft the
law of our mind,'* or reafon, and " bring us in
captivity to the law of fin." It is the real truth
of fa6t (however we underftand the words of the
Apoflle we are upon), that, in consequence of
of our ^rt^tnx. fuffering mortal ftate^ we are often
induced tq^do that, which, upon fober reflection,
we cannot but condemn ourfelves for; infomuch
that we mufl all own, from what we know of
ourfelves, that it is impoffible fuch mcrtal creatures
as we are, living in a world fo furrounded with
temptation, fhould ever attain to fuch moral re^i*
tude as will avail to our juftification, unlefs
placed under a more favourable difpenfation than
that of rigid law. And this, I could obferve
here, is the very thought the apoftle Paul en-
larges upon, in the 7th chapter of this Epiftle
to the Romans; where he has it profefTedly in his
view to (how, that fan^iijication, or, what means
the fame thing, moral re^itude, .is, upon the foot
of mere law, utterly unattainable. And why?
Becaufe, in consequence of the operation 'of

appetites

Supplemental Dissertation, 277

appetites and inclinations, feated in our mortal
bodies, we certainly Ihall, without the interpo-
fition of grace, or gofpel, be unhappily urged
on to do that which our mifidttlh us us we ought
not to do ; and the doing of which will denomi-
nate us the captives of fin, the fervants of cor-
ruption. The illuftration and proof of this is
what he labours in this 7th chapter; in order
whereunto he gives us to underftand, that there
are two different principles of aflion in men :
One he calls " the flelh," verfe 18 ; " the law
in our members,'* or the propenfities of our
bodies, which are, as it were, a rule or law to
us, verfe 23. The other, he charaderifes " the
inward man," verfe 22 ; ^' the law of the mind,'*
verfe 23 ;" " the mind," verfe 25, meaning that
faculty, or power, of the foul or fpirir, in vir-
tue of which we are denominated rational intel-
ligent beings. Thefe two principles, refiding
in the human conftitution, he reprefents as oppo-
fius^ contefting with, and counteradling each
other. And it is obfervablc, he particularly
afcribes it to " the flefh," by means of the over-
bearing influence of its propenfities in this our
prefent mortal flate ; that, on the one hand, we
do that which our w;Wj difapprove; and, on the
other, that we do not that which we would do,
though convinced, from our own perceptions, that
it is what we ought to do. Says he, verfe 15.
^^ that which I do, I alloNV not; for what I
would, that do I not ; but what I hate, that do I."
T 3 As

278 Supplemental Dissertation.'

As if he had faid, that which 1 do, in contra-
di6lion to the law of God, as influenced thereto
by tbeflejlj^ I allow not with my mind: for what,
with my inind^ I would do in conformity to the
law, that, through the prevalence of the ftejhy I
do not 5 but what, with my mind^ I even abomi-
nate, that I do as urged tp it by my flejh. To
the like purpofe are thofe words in the 18th and
I9thverfes, " To will is prefent with me; but
how to perform that which is good, I find not.
For the good that I would, I do not 5 but the
evil which I would not, that I dof' i. e. the
power of willing to do that which is good is
adually in me; but to perform that which is
good, though I (hould fo will, I find no ftrength,
fo great is the influence of my flelhly propenfi-
ties. For I perceive it, from my experience, to
be the truth of fa6t, that the good which, with
my mind, I would do, I do not ; but the evil,
which, with my mind, I would not, that I do,
through the prevalence of my animal mortal
part. It follows, in the 2ifl: verfe, " I find
then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is
prefent with mej'* i. e. I experience therefore,
as by a law fettled, and ruling in me, that when
I would, with my mind, do that which is good,
evil is prefent with me, by fleflily appetites, to
hinder and refl:rain me. And again, verfe 23d,
♦' I fee another law in my members, warring
againfl: the law of my mind, and bringing me
into captivity to the law of fin, which is in my

members i**

SuPf^LEMENTAL DISSERTATION.' 279

members i" that is, I am fadly fcnfiblc of a prin-
ciple of adlion, a law, as it were, in my bodily
members, which oppofes the law of my mind*
my reafon, my power of moral difcernment, and
makes me a captive to that law of fin which is in
my members ; or, in other words, to my flefhly
or bodily appetites. In confideration of this
prevalence of appetite in his mortal part, over
his reafon and judgment, he bitterly exclaims, as
in the 24th verfe, *< O wretched man that I am,
who fhall deliver me from the body of this
death 1" As if he had faid, from a fenfe of the
miferable condition I am in, 1 cannot but cry
out, O wretched man that I am, who (hall
deliver me from this mortal body*, which,

by

• I have rendered ix rav a-u[A,uToq tou Qanotrovrovrov, from this
MORTAL body; and, as I judge, with flritt propriety, by
giving Qavxrov, a fubRantive of the genitive cafe, the force of
an adjedive. An obfervable inftance of this mode of diction
we have in Col. i. 22. where the Apoftle fpeaks of '* our re-
conciliation to God," as efFefted, tt ru au[Aciri rr^q actfKoi; avrov
hoe, Tov^avttrov; " by his [ChrilVs] flellily body, through death ;"
that is, by the death of his body, which was made of flefli.
The fame thought precifely is intended to be conveyed here, as
when it is faid, by another Apollle, i Pet. iv. i. ** having
fufFered for us in the flelh ;" that is, in that fejhfy body God
had prepared for them. But inftances of this ufe of a fubftan-
tive of the genitive cafe are fo common, efpecially in the New
Teftament, that it would be an affront to thofe acquainted
with the language in which it was wrote, to point them out.
And its ufe in this fenfe here may the raihcr be admitted,
bccaufe the conftruftion formed upon it admirably falls in
with the main drift of the foregoing and following difcourfe ;
and it is, perhaps, the only one that does fo. For, mind well,
T 4 the

28o Supplemental Dissertation*

by its appetites and propenfities, thus makes
me the flave of fin! He adds, for his own,

and

the charaQer the Apoftlehad been defcribing, was that of a man
fo captinjated by the appetites of his jleJJjy or mortal hody^ as
that, inftead of doing what his mind, or reafon, approved, he
was urged on to that which his mind, or reafon, even *' hated."
There was a (Irife, or conteii, between the propenfities of his
Jlejhly body, and his mind, or fpirit, in which his mind was
jnaftered, and he '* led into captivity" by his bodily appetites.
And now he cries out, " O wretched man that I am, who
ihall deliver me?" From what? *♦ From this mortal
body;'* that is, from the enticing power, which thii body,
fubje^ed x.o z frail mortal Juffering condition, has over me by
means of its propenfities and appetites. To this fenfe the
whole preceding argument points our view. For it was the
influence, which his mortal body, by its appetites, had over
him, that was ihc ground, or rea/on, of the •' wretchednefs'*
he fo pafiionately complains of. This mortal body, therefore,
as to this fvvay over him, is the thing he enquires how he (hall
be delivered from ? Nor will there be any reafonable room left
for doubt upon the matter, if we attend to the answer to this
enquiry, in the words that next follow, •* I thank God," this
deliverance is to be had, ** through our Lord Jefus Chrift.*' For
what is the idea the Apoftle gives us of this deliverance? We
may readily colle£l it from the next chapter, where he has
particularly, and clearly, explained himfelf upon it. Thus he
affures us, verfe 2. that ** the law of the fpirit of life, in Jefus
Chrift, hath made me free [me who am in Chrill] from the law
of fin and death '* And again, he acquaints us, verfes 3, 4.
that ** what the law could not do, in that it was weak through
[the propenfities of the] fle(h, [hath yet been done after the
following manner] God, by fending his Son in the likenefs of
finful flefh, and [by fending him] for fin {^Tt^^^ tw? a^aprja?,
about, or concerning the affair of fm, that he might deliver
from it] hath condemned fin [deftroyed, put it to death with
refped to its influence as feated] in the flelh ; [and to this end]
** that the righteoufnefs of the law might [through the fan^lify-
Jng Spirit] be fulfilled by us, who walk, not after the flefli,

but

Supplemental Dissertation. 281

and the confolation of others, the admiring,
adoring words, in the 25th vcrfe, " I thank God,

through

but after the fpirit." Thefe words, thus conftrued according
to their true intent, exhibit an eafy and intelligible meaning
and fuch an one as, at once, explains, and anfwers, the above
inquiry after deliverance. The ApolUe having thus direfted
our view to the true and only fource of deliverance from the
dominion, which our mortal bodies, by their appetites,
have over us, makes the obfervable remark in the loth verfe,
** If Chrift be in you, the body is dead [h a/Aajjrav] with
reference to fm ; but the Spirit is life [oio. ^iKuiont^v] with
reference to righteoufnefs." As if he had faid, if Chrift be in
you by his fandifying Spirit, the 6o£(y is dead, as to its power
or dominion with refpedl to fin ; fm (hall not reign in you by
means of your mortal bodies. But, on the other hand, the
mind, or fpirit, is life as to righteoufnefs; it is now alive and
vigorous in employing your bodily members as inftruments unto
holinefs. He purfues the fame thought in the next verfe;
** But if the fpirit of him that raifed up Jefus from the dead dwell
in you, he that raifed up Chrift from the dead ihall quicken
alfo your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.**
The meaning is, if the Spirit of God dwelleth in you, God,
through his fandlifying Spirit thus dwelling in you, will
quicken, make alive, your mortal bodies^ by making them
a<5live and vigorous to the purpofes of holinefs, inftead of fin.
This interpretation, which I have borrowed from Mr. Locke,
Pr. Doddridge (in he.) is pleafed to call " his unnatural
glofs ;" at which I cannot but wonder, as this metaphorical way
of fpeaking concerning fandiification, or deliverance from the
power of fleftily or bodily luft, is fo common with this Apoftle.
H6nce he fpeaks cf men, while under the rule and fway of
their mortal bodies^ as ** dead in trefpafTes and fm," Eph. ii. i.
Col. ii. 13. And when delivered from this dominion of their
mortal bodies, through the influence of their propenfities, by
** the Spirit that raifed up Chrift from the dead," he fpeaks of
them as ** quickened,*' or ** raifed together with Chrift,**
Eph. ii. 5, 6. Col. ii. 13. He ufesthc like figure of fpeech

in

j^82 Supplemental Dissertation.

through Jefus our Lord;" that is, I acknow-
ledge it with gratitude to God, that this deliver-
ance

jn Rom. vi. 6. " He that is dead is freed from fin ;'* that is,
he, in whom the power of flefhiy propenfities is deftroyed, is
delivered from the dominion of fin. So, in the 13th verfe,
*• yield yourfelves up to God as thofe who are ali've from the
dead" that is, as thofe who, having a principle of fpiritual
life, in oppofition to the influence o^ fejhly luji^ are no longer
fpiritually dead. And in the nth verfe, ** reckon ye your-
felves to be dead indeed to fin, but alive to God, through
Jefus Chrill our Lord ;" that is, to be no longer under the
power of flefhiy propeniiiies, but to be fpiritually alive, as
having the oppofite power of living to God through Jefus
Chrift. I would yet fay, the Apoltle, all along in this 7th
chapter, and in all the above mentioned texts, muft obvioufly
cocfiders our mortal bodies, by means of their appetites,
as the true source, or root of the dominion which fin has
over us. And he elfcwhere difcovers this to have been his
thought upon the matter. Hence he exhorts, Rom. vi. 12,
*' Let not fin reign in your, mortal bodies;** that is, by
means of your appetites and propenfities. Hence that lan-
guage of his, in the 6th verfe, *' that the body of sin [to cru(ji»
rix; cciAdoiiai} might be deilroyed, that henceforth we fhould not
ferve fin ;" that is, that the power which fin has by means of
the BODY, may be fo denrcyed as that we may no longer be the
fervanis of fin. Hence he fpeaks, Col. ii. 1 1. of our •* putting
oflF the body of the fin of the flefli [rov crw^caTo? rui» a^Acc^nuv
rni ffuffcoi] by the circumcifion of Chrift;'* that is, the fins
we are influenced to commit by means of our fleshly
BODIES, with their propenfities. Hence he declares, Rora. viii.
13. that we ftiall *' die if we walk after the flefh ;" but that we
ftiall ** live, if, through the (jpirit, we mortify the deeds of the
body;'* that is, the deeds done under the influence of animal
propenfities.— But enough, it may be, too much, has been faid
to make it evident, that, by " the body of this death,'* the
Apoftle means, " this mortal body," as to its ir.fii?ence, by its
appetites, to lead us into fin. If this note is duly weighed,

and

Supplemental Dissertation! 283

an ce may be obtained, upon the plan of grace,
through Jefus Chrift, the conftituted Lord of
all.

I have no need to concern myfelf here with
the difpute, whether the Apoftle fpeaks in his
€wn per/on^ or in an ajfumed one j or, upon either
fuppofition, whether he fpeaks as a regenerate^ or
unregenerate man. For Ihould it be even allowed,
according to the more commonly received expo-
fition, that he fpeaks in the charadler, not of an
unregenerate^ but regenerate perfon, which, as I
apprehend, is far from the truth, his arguing
will Hill prove, that the propenfities, feated in
our mortal bodies, are the occasional cause of
our being urged on ; or that in conseq^jence of
WHICH we are urged on to " do the evil we
would not." This is true of unregenerate as
well as regenerate men. Whether we are faints or
finners, we are " tempted ;" and are tempted fo
as to be " drawn away," it is of " our own
lufts 5" that is, the enticing influence of animal
propenfities, in this our mortal flate.

It may be worthy of fpecial notice, the ac-
count we have given of the Apoftle's difcourfe,

and compared with the phrafe, i(p u 'Kccm<; r,yi.'ufiav, in the
5th chapter and I2lh verfe, it will, perhaps, appear in a
ftrong point of light, that I have given the very idea the
Apoftle intended to convey by it. And I have been thus loner,
3nd, I fear, tedious upon it, principaiiy with a view to bring
light, and afford rtrength, to the ccnftiuaion I judged there
was abundant reafon to put upon ir.

S84 SUPPLEMBNTAL DISSERTATION*

in^ this 7th chapter, not only agrees with the
whole foregoing Epiftle, but exhibits an em-
phatically ftriking illuflration of his meaning in
thofe words, f<?> w frcx.vnq r^fjcocproif. He had before
proved, that we could not be jujiified upon the
foot of law, becaufe we were all ftnners : he here,
proves, that our being Jinners cannot be pre-
vented by mere law, which is as infufficient for
Jan5iificationy as for juftification. He had before
carried our thoughts up to Adam, the firfl father
of men, declaring that we were *^ fmners" in
confequence of his lapfe: he here explains this
matter, acquainting us how Aye became ** fin-
ners" in confequence of his lapfe, not by having
" finned when he finned," but by having finned
in our own proper perfons, and as influenced fo
to do by the propenfities of a fleftily mortal na-
ture, which will certainly make us the flaves of
fin, unlefs reflrained, and governed, by the
gr^ce that is communicated from God, and from
him alone, through Jefus the Saviour.

It is therefore evident, from the Apoftle's own
explanation of the way, or manner, in which we
are influenced to become finners, that we have
truly interpreted his words, by conftruing them,
^^ and fo death pafTed upon all menj upon which,
IN coNSEQjjENCE OF WHICH, all have finned
themfelves." And it is, as I im.agine, with great
accuracy and propriety, the Apoftle has ex-
preffcd himfelf in thefe words. For he carries
7 our

Supplemental Dissertation. 285

Our vkw to Adam as the true original fource of
SIN, as well as death -, but gives us to under-
^f!^nd, at the fame time, that he is t\it fource of
thofe different evils in a quite different way ; of
DEATH, by the fentence of God, taking rife from
the*' one off'ence" of this "one manj" and of
SIN, IN CONSEQUENCE OF THIS, by means of the
temptations of our mortal state, which with-
out grace, or gofpel, will certainly entice and
draw us afide.

It cannot juftly be objeded againfl this inter-
pretation, that it gives the prepofition eTrt a
wrong fenfe. For it is the very fenfe in which it
is moft commonly ufed throughout the New
Teftament, when conftrued with a dative cafe^
as it is here. The following texts may be thought
an ample illuftration of this.

Matthew, vii. 28. Jnd it came to pafsy when
Jefus had ended thefefayingSy the people were aftonifljed
\jiri T7I ^i^xx^ auTou] at his do5lrine. The particle
ati well anfwers the meaning of €7rt in this text.
But then it is plain to the moll: vulgar under-
ftanding,, that it fignifies exadlly the fame thing
with upo7u or i^ confequence of.

Matt. xiii. 4. ^nd in them [f7r awroK, in con-
fequence of the temper they difcovered] is ful-
filled the prophecy of EfaiaSy which faith ^ &c.

Matt. xix. 9. And I fay unto you^ whofoever fhall
put away his wife^ except it he for fornication^ [f*
^n iTFi TTQ^viiQij unlefs it be on account of, in

confequence

aSS Supplemental Dissbjitatio».

confequence of, fornication] andjhall marry anS^
ther, committeth adultery.

Mark, ifi. 5. J^nd when he had looked round
ahut on them with anger y being grieved for the hard-
nefs of their hearts [^nn m Tropooa-ti m; Kotp^iocg aurws,
on account of, in confequence of, the hardncfs of
their hearts] he faith unto the man.

Mark, x, 22. And he was fad at that faying^
\iin Tw Aoyw, in confequence of what he had faid]
and went away grieved^ for he had great foffef'-
fions.

Mark, xii. 17. And Jefus anfwering, faid unto
themy render unto Cafar the things that are Cafar'Sy
and unto God the things that are God's : and they
marvelled \jir «utw] at him ; that is, on account of
what he had juft faid. His having fo fpoken
was the occafion of this wonder.

Inftead of taking up any more room in citing

the words of texts, I ihall refer the reader to the

following ones, among others he may find in the

New Teftament, illuftrating the fenfe we have put

upon the word fTri. Matt. iv. 4. Matt, xviii. 5,

Matt. X. 24. Mark, xi. i8. Luke, i. 14.29.

59. Luke, ii. 20. 33. 47. Luke, iii. 19, ao.

Luke, iv. 22. 32. Luke, v. 5. 9. Luke, ix.

43. 48, 49. Luke, xiii. 7. Luke, xv. 7. 10.

Luke^ xix. 41. Luke, xx. 26. Luke, xxiv.

25. A6ls, iii. ic, 16. Afts, iv. 9. 21. A6ls,

v. 35. A6ts, viii. 2. A6ls, xi. 19. Ads,

xiii. 12, Ads, XV. 30, 31. Ads, xx. 38.

Ads,

Supplemental Dissertation. iSf

A&Si xxvi. 6. Rom. v. 2. Rom. vi. 204
Rom. viii. 20. i Cor. i. 4. 1 Cor. viii. 2^
I Cor. ix. 10. I Cor. xiii. 6. i Cor. xiv. 164
I Cor. xvi. 17. 2 Cor. i. 4. 2 Cor. vii. 4. 7.
cum multis aliis.

The above examples are full to our prefent
purpofe. The prepofition fTT*, in all of them, is
joined with the dative cafe, and has exadly
the fame force I have given it in the text under
confideration 3 that is to fay, it ftands to denote
the occafional caufe of the things fpoken of, or that
hy whichy through which^ upon which^ in confequeuce
of which ^ they are as they are there reprefented
to be.

It is true, I do not make the relative w, in my
way of confl:ru<5lion, to agree with either ai/OpwTro?,
or Gavarof, the only foregoing fubftantives. But
this is an objedlion of no weight; becaufe it may
as well have for antecedent the immediately
preceding fentence. It may be worthy of fpeciai
notice here, the phrafe, i(p w, is ufed by the
apoftle Paul in three places befides this we are
illuftratingj and, in all of them, the prepofi-
tion, £<?>, has the fame meaning I have given it
here: and, in like manner, the relative, w,
grammatically agrees, not with a precedingy^^-
ftantive^ hux. fentence.

The firfl inftance to this purpofe we have in
a Cor. V. 4. " For we that are in this tabernacle
do groan, being burthened -, not for that we

would

aSS Supplemental DissERTAtioF?*

would [£(? w ov OfAo/*£v] be unclothed, but clothed
upon, that mortality might be fwallowed up of
life." Thc^pafTage may, I think, more con-
fiftently with the true force of £(p coy be rendered
thus : " For we that are in this tabernacle do
groan, being burdened : not that we would upon
THIS [upon being thus burdened] be unclothed,
but clothed upon." — As if the Apoftle had faid,
We who are in the body do groan, being prefled
under the weight of many infirmities and trials :
not that we defire upon this, upon the account

OF OUR being thus BURDENED, tO bc UUClothcd

by putting off our bodies; but our defire rathef
is, that we may be clothed from above, may put
on celeftial bodies, that fo what is mortal, and
therefore liable to thefe burdens and forrows,
may be fwallowed up of life that is immortal, and
not obnoxious to any of thefe infelicities *. If we
thus make the words, " being burdened," ante-
cedent to w, and conftrue e:^, the prepofition
joined with it, upon, an eafy and intelligible
fenfe is given to this whole fentence ; which, as
it lies in the common tranflation, is certainly
difficult and perplexed. And, in this way of
conftruftion, the prepofition, zg, has precifely

• The following words of Ckment of Alexandria are an
evident al.ufion to this text, and perhaps clearly (hew, that he
took it in the fenfe we have put upon it; *' »?/xa«5 yap r=>ofo/i(«»

For we do groan, beinc; defirous to bc clothed upon with in«
corruptible things, before we put ofF corruption.'*

the

SUPPLBMENTAL DISSERTATION* zSg

the fame meaning as in the above numerqus
places.

Dr. "Taylor fays, [Scrip L Bc5i. i of .Origwal
Shh page 52.] " f<p w To me times fee ttis to be
*' ufed abfolutely, wichout an .anteced;;nt5 ^nd
^' then it may be underftood condiLionally :"
in proof of which he.brings this text^ and renders
it thus: " For we that are in this tabernacle do
^^ groan, being burdened : . f(p w ou OsAo/xe!/, "xiih
^^ this reJlri^fioHy ov fo far^ that we would not be
^* unclothed [no, that is not the only, or ulti-
^* mate objed of our defire], but clothed
" upon." In anfwer whereto it may be ob-
ferved, the phrafe, stp w, is never ufed in the
New Teflament without an antecedent^ either
expreifed, orunderflood. It may look as though
Matt, xxvi. 20. was an example to the contrary.
Our Saviour there fays to Judas, ^' £Ta(p£, i(p &>
TTocfii^ Friend, wherefore art thou come?'*
E<p CO is here well rendered "wherefore:" but
then it means the fame thing with /';; qtio^ ad
qiiidi as the Latin verfions have it, for what ^ to
what purpofe ? The relative w agrees here wich
Trpxy^jiocTi undcrftood. This condrudlion, there-^
fore, is without a precedent in the New Tcila-
ment writings, unlefs in Philip, iii. 12, or iv. 10.
which we fhall have occafion to confider pre-
fently. And it has this farther objeiflion lying
againfl: it, that it does not feem eafy and natu-
ral. One muft attend pretty clofely, now Dr.
1'aylor has given this conllrudion, to underftand

U the

igo Supplemental Dissertation.

the precife thought he would make the Apoftlc
conveys and, perhaps, it will require ftill greater
attention to underftand the grammatical reafon he
grounds it upon. The meaning of the Apoftle,
as I apprehend, is very obvioufly this ; the bur-
dens with which he, and the Chriftians he wrote
to, were prefled, excited in him and them a
defire of death : not that they defired death
UPON ACCOUNT OF THESE BURDENS merely as
it would be an unclothing them, a putting off
their bodies ; but their defire rather was, that
they might be clothed upon with heavenly and
immortal bodies.

Another inflance we meet with in Philip, iii.
12. " Not as though v/e had already attained,
either were already perfeft: But I follow after,
if that I may apprehend that for which aHb I am

apprehended [n xat yiCirocXcx.Q<a, f^ « xarfX^i^Grjv,]

of Jefus Chrifl." This tranflation, you obferve,
fuppiies the demonftrative pronoun touto, thaf,
and makes it antecedent to the relative w. The
fenfe it conveys is juft; and it gives the prepo-
fition, £^, the fame force I have all along been
contending for. But ftill, as I imagine, the
more proper antecedent to w is the immediately
preceding fentence. Accordingly, I would render
the pafTage thus : " I follow on, if fo be I alfo
may apprehend : for which, on account of
WHICH, I alfo was apprehended of Jefus Chrifl/'
As if the Apoftle had faid, like a racer, in one of

the

Supplemental Dissertation. 291

the cxercifes you are well acquainted with, I
prefs on towards the mark, if lb be I may lay
hold of the prize *, for the sake of which -|-
ON account of my laying hold of which, I
alfo was fuddenly and marvelloufly caught, laid
hold of by Jefus Chrifb, when on my journey
towards Dmnafcus.

What Dr. Taylor has offered upon this text
does not appear to me to be wrote with that accu-

• lti^e2idL oi apprehend, a derivative from the Latin, I have
rather, in the above paraphrafe, made ufe of the words lay
hold of, which are more plain to common readers; and, lo
make the fenfe ftill more caf>', I have fupplied the Englifli
word prize : though it Ihould be remembered here, there was
no need of adding in the Greek the word Q^uQuovy which anfvvcrs
to it; becaufe the verb KocxdXxQut being ufed here in ailulion to
one of the known Grecian exercifes, evidently implied it. The
Apofile, in thi?, and the two following verfes, compares him-
felf to a racer that had not already obtained the prize, but was
running that he might, in the end, lay hold of it. Jt is ob-
fervable, the words ^^uku h xa.ra?^x^u, in this 12th verfe, mean
the fame thing with xara c-xottov cnjxu-tTit Crc.Csiov, in the 14th
verfe : and though in the one, the Apoftle leai^es out Qpu'^n^^',
and in the other, koliuT^ouQu ; yet he is as readily underltood .ns
if ihefe words had been inferteJ. Compare the ufe of 7.aiA.^x;L>
and xctiay^iyi^'Savu in this 12th verfe, with the ufe of them, i Ccr.
i:<, 24, and it will be feen that they are ufed in the cg'^nijl-cal
fenfe.

f Since the writing the above, I find, that Btxa ?!nd Era/-
mus Schmidiuss have given the like conHrudlicn to i^p w in this
place; rendering it, ** cujus rei caufa." Woljius follows them
herein. His tranflation of the paflage is this ; '* Scd pcrfeqnor,
*' ut eiiam ipfe apprehendam : cujus rei caufa ctiam apprehen-
** fus fum a Jefa Chiifto." But I follow after, that I alfo may
apprehend: for which thing's sake [that is, that I might
jb»$ appreheiidj I alfo was apprehended by Jefus Chrift.

U 2 racy

292 Supplemental Dissertation.

racy of judgment which he has often difcovered
upon other occafions. He tranflates it thus;
*' that I may apprehend as far as that for which I
alfo am apprehended j" very evidently applying
two different meanings to the propofition, £<?, at
one and the fame time, namely, as far as, and
fir. He has done the fame in the paraphrafe he
has added explanatory of his tranflation. It runs
thus; *' that I may lay hold of happinefs in that
high and excellent fenfe, that furtheft reach and
extent, for the attaining of which Jefus Chrifl:
hath laid hold of me.'* Had he only faid, " that
I may lay hold of happinefs, for the attaining of
which Jefus Chrift hath laid hold of me," he
would have conflrued £<p w juft as I do: whereas,
according to his paraphrafe, and tranQation alfo,
he has fo conflrued it as to give the prepofition,
i(py two very different meanings. But, without
faying any thing further, I leave it with the in-
telligent reader to judge, whofe tranflation of
thefe words is moft eafy and natural, his or
mine*

The lafl inflance we have in Philip, iv, 10.
Evocpy]y ^£ bv Kuptw ireyooXux;, on Yi^n ttots ccvs^ocXirs. ro

VTTfp EUOV (ppOVZiUy £(p U XCCl i(ppOV£ir£f r\X0ilpH(7^B $£,

" But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now, at
the lafl, your care of me hath flouriihed again,
wherein ye were alfo careful, but ye lacked op-
portunity." So our tranilators have given the
fenfe, making the relative w to agree with Trpay-
fj.octi underfloodi whereas, it ought rather, as I

imagine^

Supplemental Dissertation, 293

imagine, to have for antecedent the immediately
preceding fentence.

I cannot give you a clearer icka of the true
meaning of this text, than in the words of an in-
genious friend, particularly well verfed in the
Greek, who, upon reading my conftrudion of
f(p w, was pleafed to approve of it, and fend me
his thought upon 'Philip, iv. lo, as an obfervable
illuftration of it : Says he, " The Englijh tranjla-
" tors have made fad work with this text, and fo,
" indeed, has the old Latin tranflation, and Beza
*^ too, as well as Erafmus [though this laft comes
" much the neareft to the Apoftle's meaning], by
'' not attending to the full force of the metaphor
*' in ai/f0aA£Tf, and to the to (ppovetv. They have
*^ tranflated it as though the text was ayi^xXin
*^ Tco (ppovEiv^ and not to (ppovn\> : the former of"
" which implies the revival of their care and
*^ concern; the latter, their receiving frefli vi-
^^ gour and life in order to fhew forth their care
«f and concern, like a tree that had for fometime
*^ been without fruit, and, as it were, dry and bar-
** ren, but now puts forth buds and leaves in or-
" der for fruit. Upon which, fays the Apoftle,
'^ Ye did really concern yourfelves for me." The
" Philippians had been the firft in their bounties
*^ to him, ver. 15.; and had feveral times, while
<* he was at TheJJalonica^ adminiftered to his wants:
'^ but it had been now fome time fince he had
" heard from them in this way, and rejoiced by
^[ finding from what he had received from the
U 3 " hands

a94 Supplemental Dissertation.

<^ hands oVEpaphroditus^ that it was only a want
** of opportunity which prevented their fending
" before. A metaphor is a fxmile in one ward 5-
*' and, I think, this is, therefore, the honeft
" meaning of the text, *' I rejoiced greatly in
<' God, that, at length, like a tree which had,
" for fome time, appeared to be dry and lifelefs,
" but had (liot out anew in order for fruit, ye
'-^ have again put forth the buds of love and af-
«^ fedion for me; nor was it a fair fhew of blof-
*' foms only, but from them have proceeded
*' thofe fruits which I have now received, and
" muft attribute my not receiving them fooner to
" your want of opportunity." The tranflation of
«' the text, from whence you may judge whether
*^ the above is not the fair fenfe of it, is word for
" word thus : " I rejoiced greatly in the Lord,
<^ that, at length, ye budded anew to concern
•" yourfelves for me 5 upon which ye did concern
'* yourfelves, but wanted an opportunity."

I fhall not think it improper to add here a
couple of paflages from Clement of Alexandria^
in which the phrafe, ip w, or ok, is ufed exactly
as I have conftrued it in the above citations from
the apcftle Paul,

The firft is to be met with, Paidag, lib. 2. in
thele words, AAA* gtocj ttodij ^opc:^* xaAft rovg

TTT^iSVAU^, Zip W ^«A»(7Ta ieiTTl/QV TTOirjTEOU. Btlt VshCH

you make an entertainment^ invite the foor^ on
WHJCK ACCOUNT [that is, on account of the
poor'ii being invitedj, chiffly a /upper is to be wade.

The

Supplemental Dissertation. 295

The i(p here, as in the above places, has the force
of an occafional caufe » and the w agrees with the
whole preceding member of the fentence.

The other we have in Strom. 2, and runs thus,

rn yvvoiiyii^ tcov ^e aA^idcov xoci na^Xcov ny,sXy\(riv ; ftp oi<:
^UY\rov oi^ocvecrov Qiovj ocXX ov^ sj? rsXo;^ av^vTrnWoi^ocro.
For he (Adam) following his wifcy willingly chofe
things that were bafe^ and difregarded thofe that were
true and fair \ in consequence of which [of
which choice and difregard] he exchanged an im-
mortal life for one that was mortal, though not finally.
I need not fay, that the conftrudion of i(p oj? is
precifely the fame as in the above text, this is fo
obvious upon the fmalleft attention.

It would be eafy to fill a great number of
pages with inftances, from other authors befides
the facred ones, in which the prepofition £(p,
efpecially as joined with «, or a like relative, is
ufed in the very fenfe I have taken it. A few
only Ihall fuffice for a fpecimen : Tot? /^fv

XocfA^oiVovtriv apyvpiov avocyKOii oy kttii/ ocTrBpyx^Eo-Qcci
TouTo, £(p 00 fAicT^ov Xoi[ji.Qoiuii)<riv, It is necejjary thofe
who receive money ^ fhould perform the thing for
WHICH, ON ACcoiTNT OF WHICH, they are reward-
ed, Xenophon. nuGojafj/oi £7r oj? nX^ov. Being afked

FOR WHAT CAUSE /i?<?y rJW^/' HeRODOTUS. OucTfV

ifTtiv i(p or 00 ocv oifjt,cc^uixoct iVTrXom. ^hcrc is nothing

FOR WHICH, on ACCOUNT OF WHICH, IwUlhowly

whili I am fo fkafantly failing, Lucian. n s-m

U 4 TTOAA*

i^S Supplemental Dissertation. '

itoXa' 7]ixoyy,(ric: On ACCOUNT o^ v/niCH I have

toihd TAUch, Homer. E^^ oi^' r^nTiv avtv rojv a,X?^ui/
TTUl^COV TC'J AoccrM up^n'O'A. ON OCCASION OF WHICH

three, without the other children of Adam, it is /aid.
Clement of Alexandria, O cs [/.iroivccoy oukiti ruv

a'jruu aTTTiroa Trpccyfj^ccroou^ £(p oig uetccvoyiO-s. He that

repenteth^ meddleth no more with thofe things
WHICH were the OCCASION of his repentance.
Chrysostom.

It is, perhaps, by this time, fnfficiently evi-
dent, that the conftru6tion we have given to the
words, £(p w 'Try.yri; \i/.oLprov^ is wcll authorifed by
a like ufe of the prepofition f^, and of the phrafe
£9 w. Nor is the fenfe that this conilrudlion
offers, intricate or trifling; but eafily intelli-
gible, and vaftly important. Thofe words, " all
have finned," mean precifely the fame thing
here, as when the ApoHle fays, chap. iii. 9.
*^ all are under fin i'* and again, ver. 19. ** all
the world are become guilty before God;" and
yet again, ver. 23. "all have finned:" only,
in the text we are upon, according to the fenfe
I have put upon it, the ApoRle lets us into the
true original four ce^ or occaftonal caufe^ of this uni-
verfal defciflion ; namely, the lapfe of the one
man, Ad^niy through which, deaths with its fore-
runners and appendages, is come upon all men^

UPON WHICH, JN CONSEQUENCE OF WHICH, they

*' have all finned" in their own perfons; as they
mud do, if they are juflly, or even intelligibly,
f hargcable wich having finned at all.

Supplemental Dissertation. 1297

It may, perhaps, feem flrange to fome, if the
Apoftle is here fpeaking of men's having finned
in their own perfons (as my interpretation fup-
pofes), that he fliould fay " all have finned,'*
meaning mankind univerfally, the whole human
races when vaft numbers of them had not then
come into exiftence, and multitudes that had,
were incapable of thus finning, as they had not
arrived to a capacity of moral afiion. But the
difficulty upon this head will all vanifh, if it be
remembered, that it is no unufual thing to find
that fpoken of in Scripture, as already come into
fa5l^ which in tir,ie certo.inly will do fo. So it is faid
of our Saviour, Heh, ii. 8. " Thou haft put all
things in fubje6lion under his feetj'' though it is
added in the latter part of the fame verfe, " we
fee not yet all things put under him." So, in the
verfe we are upon, it is faid of '^ all men,'' that
" death hath pafled upon them;" and it is thus
faid of them, becaufe this, in time, will be the
real truth of faft with reference to them. In
like manner, it is faid of " all men," that
" they have finned ;" and it is thus faid of them,
becaufe, as they become capable of moral action,
they will certainly be guilty of 7?;/, at lead fo far
as not to be able to oi^am jujlijication upon the foot
of law. The truth is, mankind, the whole hu-
man race, by reafon of the lapfe of the one man,
Adaniy are in fuch a ftate, as that they may be
fpoken of, in the virtual and conftrudive fenfe,
both as dead men and finners : and they are ac-
cordingly

19^ Supplemental Dissertation^

cordingly thus fpoken of by the apoftle Paul.
He not only fpeaks of '^ death's having palTed
upon thena," of their being '^ all dead j'* but of
their " having all finned." And he thus fpeaks
of thena, and with propriety and juftice too,
becaufe it is as certain, in confequence of the
lapfe, that they will all turn out Jtnners in the eye
of Jfri^ lawy as that they will fall by the flroke
of death.

The fenfe we have given thofe important
words, in the 12th verfe, £(p w ttcci^te; •ni^a^rovy
namely, whereupon, upon which, all have
fmnedy will readily lead us into a juft conception
of thofe parallel ones, in the 19th verfe, <^ia r^q

vo^Xoi, By one marCs difobedience, many [the many,
or all menj were made finnersy They " were
made finners," How ? By their own wicked
choice, in consequence of that conflitution of
God, which took rife from " the difobedience of
the one man, Adam^^ and fubjedled them to a
life of toil and forrow^ ending in death. The
Apoftle certainly means the fame thing in this
J9th verfe, when he fays, " by the difobedience
of one, the many are made finners •," as when
he fays, in the 12th verfe, " and thus, in this
way, death hath pafled upon all men, where-
upon, upon which, in consequence of which,
all have finned." If therefore the interpretation
we have given of the 12th verfe be juft, fo alfo
is this of the icth verfe. And, in truth, this
:* , firft

Supplemental Dissertation.^ 299

firfl: claufe in the 19th verfe, is nothing more
than a repetition of the latter part of the com-
parifon begun, but left unfinifhed, in the 12th
verfe; in like manner as the firft claufe of the
foregoing i8th verfe, is a repetition of the former
part of that fame comparifon : for which reafon,
the former part of this 19th verfe, and the latter
part of the 12th, mufl mean precifely the fame
thing J as I have made them to do. And it is
obfervablc, in this v/ay of interpretation, I not
only make out a clear and ftrong connection be-
tween the i2ch and the i8th and 19th verfes,
which anfwer to it, and refume and complete the
comparifon that was there begun ; but give the
phrafes, ^' all have finned," and " the many are
made finners," their full natural force, and can-
not be complained of for making/;/, by an harfti
metonymy, to fignify mortality,

I have yet further to fay in fupport of the in*
terpretation I have put upon tp w Trocvrtg nfji^otpTov^
and the parallel palTage ^ix rvig Trx^pccKong rov n/o;

av9/5W7rou oci^oipToXot KOCT£<rrcx,^n(rocv ttoXXqi, that it well

conneds the feveral parts of the paragraph m
which thefe words are found, not only with one
another, but with the foregoing difcourfe.

It makes out a good connexion between this
paragraph and the foregoing context. For, let
it be obferved, this 12th verfe, together with the
i8th and 19th, are introduced with ^ixrovro^ and
ccpoi otji/, to fignify their being brought in as a
proof or illuftration of the preceding nth verfe,
3 whfl^

300 SuPPLEMENtAL DISSERTATION.

where the Apoflle had faid, " by whom [Jefus
Chrift] we have now received the reconcilia-
tion *," the reconciliation before fpoken of in
the loth verfe; that is, a reconciliation " when
we were enemies," and enemies by being *' un-
^dly," and " Tinners," verfe 6. 8. as if the
Apoflle had faid, I jufl: now obferved, that by
Jesus Christ we have reconciliation with
God 5 and it \s> for this reafon f that " the free
gift by the righteoufnefs of one is come upon all
men to juftification j" namely, becaiife it was in
fuch a way,i;/z. " by the offence of one, that judge-
ment came upon all men to condemnation." The
view of the Apoflle, in thefe connedling particles,
is to introduce a proof of the credibility, the fit-
nefs, the reafonablenefs, of what he had faid in
the nth verfe, namely, that *' we have received

* Dr. Doddridge juftly obferves, " The word Ka.ra>,>xcyn
** here, has fo apparent a reference ta xocrr)7^oc.yviM>iv and kcitccK-
** XayevTiq in the preceding verfe, that it is furprifing it (hould
•* have been rendered by fo different a word in our 'verjion ;
•* efpecially as it is fo improper to fpeak of our receiving an
** atonementy which God receives as made for our fins."

\ The Englijh phrafe that mod exaftly anfwers the true im-
port of the Greek one ^»a touto, is, as I apprehend, for this
€aufe or reafon. There is always an argumentative connexion
between the difcourfe that goes before, and that follows
after, this demonftraiive pronoun ; and its proper ufe is, to
point out the r^/z/ow, caufe^ or ^rc»«^of this connedlion. Only,
it ought to be well minded, the caufe or nafan of this connec-
tion is fometimes ^o be found in what goes before oi-6 tci'Io,
and fometimes in what follows after it. It is ufed heie in the
Jatter fenfe.
.M^: . recoa-

Supplemental Dissertation, 301

reconciliation/* and have received it " by Jefus
Chrift/' The thought he would convey is
plainly this : It is reafonable, as the change from
a ftate o^ righteoufnefs and life to a ftate o^ Jin and
death was made by one man, that a change back
again from this ftate o( fin and death to a (late of
right eoufnefs and life^ fliould like wife be made by
ONE MAN 5 the llrefs being evidently laid upon
this, that each of thcfe changes, great as they
were, and univerfil in their confequences, was
effeifled by one single person.

Dr. "Taylor, in his Script. Bo5i, of Original Sin, and
in his Paraphrafs and Notes on the Epijlle to the
Romans, very juftly fuppofes, that this 12th verfe,
and the whole paragraph of which it is a part,
were introduced as " an illudration of, or further
enlargement upon, what the Apoftle had been fay-
ing of our reconciliation to God hy Jefus Chrifl :'*
Upon which I would afl<:, what coherence is there
between this do(^rine of reconciliation to Gcd by
Jefus Chrifi, and his explanation of f<p w Trxvr^q r^i^^ccp-
roM ? For, let it be obferved, the objefls of this
reconciliation are exprefsly confidered by the
Apoftle, in the loth verfe, as *^ enemies j" yea, it
was " when they were enemies," and enemies by
being " ungodly," and fmners," ver. 6. 8. that
they '^ were reconciled by the death of Chrift."
Now, what light does it refled upon this recon^
ciliation for the Apoftle to tell us, as Dr. Taylor
would underftand him, that we «fe *'* fufferers as
far as death," by reafon of the lapfe of the one

man.

302 Supplemental Dissertation.

man, Adam ? Merely our being " thus fufFerers,*'
is a thought noways adapted, either to explain or
confirm a reconciliation that is grounded on our
being " enemies^" and enemies by being " un-
godly," and ^' finners * :" whereas the interpret-
ation

• I am fenfible Dr. Taylor fuppofes, as Mr. Loch did before
him, that the epithets, <without JiretJgth, ungodly , Jinnors^ and
enemies, ia \\vz 6th, 8tb, and loth verles, are Vi^^d with refpeft
to the Gentiles only ; and that the reconciliation treated of re-
lates alfo to their redemption from their heathen flate : But this
I efteem a certain miftake, and a miftake too that quite fpoih
the connection of the Apoftle's words, both with the prececir.g
and fubfequent parts of his difcourfe.

We have already feen, that, according to ths true intent of
the Apoftle's reafoning, for three chapters together, Je^ws as well
as Gentiles were ** all under fin ;" that ** the whole world were
guilty before God;" that" all," that is, mankind univerfslly,
'* have finned, and come fhort of the glory of God." Why
then fhould the charadlers, without Jirength^ ungodly, Jinners, and
enemies f be reftrained to the Gentiles only? What reafon is
there for fuch a limitation ? Is there any thing more aflirmed in
thefe epithets, if applied to mankind univerfaily, thnn the
Apoftle had befoie affirmed concerning them, and largely proved
too? And when he had been at the pains to prove, by a longi
thread of laboured argument, tha' Jeius as well as Gentiles^ yea,
that the 'vchale nvorld, ell men, n.uere become guilty be/ore God^
why (hould we break the continuity of his difcourfe by confin-
ing the charatSlers ungodly^ Jtnners, and enemies^ to the Gentiles
only ? Surely, we ought rather to underlland them in an exten*
(ive fenfe, fo as to take in mankind univerfaily.

And by this confined interpretation of thefe charailers, and the
reconciliation that relates to them, their connedlion with the/ol-
hiving, as well as foregoing context, will be greatly hurt ; for it
is obfervable the Apoftle, in this 12th and following verfes to the
end of the chapter, is not treating of any thing peculiar to th«
GentileSi but of that which concerns mankind in common ; ac-
quainting

Supplemental Dissertation. 303

ation we have given of f^ « TrxvrBg r.fxccpTouy is
direftly calculated to lead our thoughts up to the
proper fource of the abfolute need we flood in of
this reconciliation ; for we are told, not only that
^'' fin and death are entered into the world/' by
the one man, Adam\ but to let us know that we
arc deeply interefted in thefe difadvantages, we
are further alTured that we are both mortal and
finfuly and that our becoming thus mortal and
finful took rile from the one man Adamy chough
in a different way, according to \\\^ different na-
tures of fin and death, as has been before ex-
plained.

The interpretation we are juftifying, makes out
a good connection alfo between the feveral parts
of the paragraph itfelf to which it is related. In
order to our taking in a juft conception of this,
let it be obferved.

The Apollle, having wrote the 12th verfe, in-
terpofeth a long parenthefis, reaching to the i8th
verfe, in which, among other things, he confiders

qiiaititing us, that " death hath pafTed," not upon the Geniiles
only, but ** upon all men;" and that " ail/' not the Gentiles
only, *' have finned:" at the fame time pointing our thoughts
to liie cne man, Adam, as the true occafior.al fource thereof, And
as the illiiftration of the foregoing context, in this 12th verfe,
and onwards to the end of the chapter, is exaflly fuited to the
&2L\.Q o\ mankind univer/aliyy ?nd not to the fi.i.':e of the Centilt
ivorld only, we are herefrom evidently tauoh:, that the charac-
ters in the foregoing context are to be applied, not to 2^ part of
mankind only, but to the pcjlerity of Adum, throughout all
gencratioiis.

304 Supplemental Dissertation.

the lapfe hy Adam^ and the gift through Chrijl ; and
gives the advantage to the latter^ for that it ex-
ceeds^ overflows, firetches beyond iht former ^ ver. 15,
16, 17. And having interpofed this thought, he
returns, in the i8th verfe, to the comparifon he
had begun, but left unfinilhed in the 12th:
*^ Therefore, as by the offence of one, judgment
^' came upon all men to condemnation j even fo,
*^ by the righteoufnefs of one, the free-gift came
" upon all men unto juftification of life. For as
«* by the difobedience of one, many were made
*' Tinners, fo by the obedience of one, many fhall
*' be made righteous." As if the Apoftle had faid,
'^ By the offence of oney* it muft be affirmed the
judicial adl, " in forrow fhalt thou eat bread, till
thou return unto the ground,'* is come upon all.
But then, as a counter-part to this damage, it
mud be affirmed alfo, that the free-gift by the
righteoufnefs of one is come upon all j fo come
upon all, as that they are made capable of attain-
ing to the y?//?//^*;^//^;/ <?/ ///<?. And this is highly-
credible 5 for as, by the difobedience of one, the
many, or all men, in confequence of a divine
conftitution, occalioned by this difobedience,
and fubjedling them to a frail mortal flate, are
lecoviie fmmrs \ even fo, by the obedience of one,
the fame many, or all men, in confequence of an
oppofite conftitution grounded on this obe-
dience, are capable of becoming rightesus perfons j
and as fuch fubjedively qualified for the juftifi-
cation of life.

Conformably

Supplemental Dissertation. 305

Conformably to this account of the Apoflle's
words, the two difadvantages which were pointed
out in the 12th verfe, as taking rife from the one
offence of the one man Adamy namely, death and
fiUy are again diRinftly anu feparately mentioned
in the i8th and 19th verfes, as they ought to be
in the repetition of a begun but unfinifhed com-
parifon. And the two cppofde advantages^ through
the one man Jefus Chrift, which complete the
comparifon, are, in like manner, life and right-
eoufnejsi as indeed they fhould be, being counter-
parts to the death and fm to which they are op-
pofed.

In this view of the paragraph, its feveral parts
perfedlly harmonize with each others and, what
may be worth obferving, the connefling particle
7«^, fory which introduces the 19th verfe, has its
proper force and emphafis, and makes this verfe,
as it ought to do, a reafon^ and a very good one
too, of that which immediately preceded : where-
as, if the phrafes a^a^rwAoi >carfo-ra9>]o-a:/, and
J'ixaiot xaTao-TctGjio-o^raj, are interpreted, as Mr, Locke
and Taylor interpret them, in the metonymical
fenfe, this 19th verfe will exhibit no reafon at all
of the foregoing i8th verfe, though infeparably
joined with it by the particle yx^y or for ^ but will
be a mere tautology. For if, by all men being
" made finners," through the difobedience of
Adarriy and their being ^* made righteous" throuo-h
the obedience of Ghrift, nothing more is meant

X than

3o6 Supplemental Dissertation^

than their being " made mortal," or " fufferers as
far as death," and *' being reftored back again to
iifej" this 19th verfe containing thefe words, can-
not be a reafon of the 18th. According to this
fenfe of thofe phrafes'/the fame thing is only re-
peated in the 19th verfe, which had been affirmed
in the i8th -, and the 19th verfe, inftead of being
a reafofiy or argument^ illuftrating and confirming
the 1 8th (as it ought to be, to give the con-
necting yoL^ its juft force), is a needlefs repetition
of one and the fame thing; as it is really made
to be in the paraphrafes of both the above-named
expofitors : nor, as I imagine, could it have been
otherwife^ according to their conftru6lion of the
"words.

In (hort, it fliould feem indifputably evident,
that thefe verfes (the 18th and 19th) are brought
in to complete the comparifon between /^dam and
Chrijly which was begun, but left unfiniOied in
the 1 2th; confequently, 2i^ fin and death are the
two grand difadvantages on Jdam's fide of the
comparifon in the 12th verfe, the fame dfadvan-
(ages muft be meant in the repetition of the comr
parifon in the i8th and 19th verfes 5 which being
fo, the advantages on Chrift's fide of the compa-
rifon, as they are counter-parts to the difadvan-
tages on Adam's, fide, muft mean life and rigbte-
cufnefs anfwering to death and ftn^ to which they
are oppofed. In this view of the paragraph, its
fcyeral parts are not only beautifully and ftrongly

conneiflcci

Supplemental Dissertation. 307

conne^led with each other, and with the imme-
diately foregoing context, which confiders the
objeds of the " reconciliation by Jefus Chrift" as
" ungodly, finners, and enemies i" but with the
main defign of the whole preceding epiftle, the
tendency of which is to fliew, that Jews as well as
Gentiles^ the whole worlds all men, zTtftmers^ and
guilty before God; and, upon that account, inca-
pable o^juftification upon the foot of mere law.

I fhall only add what ought to be heedfully
obferved; namely, that death and sin, the difad-
vantages, in the Apoftle*s comparifon, by means
of Adam's lapfe, being in their nature eflentially
different, come upon mankind in a quite different
way; and the fame may be faid, with equal truth,
of the oppofite advantages, by means of the obe-
dience of Chrifl, LIFE, and righteousness: being
in their nature quite different, they are brought
into effe6t in a quite different way.

Death, being a natural difadvantage, may come
upon mankind by the appointment or conflitu-
tion of God, without the intervening confidera-
tion of their own mifufed agency. In like man-
ner, Jimple deliverance from death being a natural
advantage, may, by alike conflitution of God, be
fecured to the fame mankind without any regard
had to their own well-ufed agency : and accord-
ingly this is the real truth of the cafe, if we may
depend upon the fcripture as a revelation from
God. The human race come into the world un-

X 2 dcr

3oS Supplemental Dissertation.

der the difadvantage of being fubje6ted to deathy in
virtue of a divine conftitution, occafioncd solely
by the " one offence" of the " one man" Adani :
and they conne into exigence likewife under the
advantage of an abfolute afliirance that they fhall
bt delivered from deaths in virtue of a divine confti-
tution, occafioned solely by the obedience of the
one man Jefus Chrift. Deliverance from the
power of the grave is as absolutely and cer-
tainly the advantage even all men are under
through Chrift, as fubjedlion to death is the ^z/-,
advantage that has come upon them through
Adam.

But the cafe is quite different with refped to
the other difadvantage through Adam, namely
SIN ; and its oppofite advantage through Chrift,
namely righteousness. Adam's lapfe became
a difadvantage to all men with refpedt to sin .
but how, in what way, did it become a difadvan-
tage ? Evidently as, in confequence of his lapfe>
they v/ere fubje6led to mortality in a world of
toil, labour, and forrow ^ upon which, from
whence, they would take occafion to become Tin-
ners themfelves. The obedience of Chrift, on
the other hand, is their advantage with refpeifl to
the becoming righteous perfons. But how?
Evidently as, in confequence of this obedience of
his, and the conftitution of God grounded thereon,
they are rendered capable, in a moral way (fuch
an one.as is adjufted to moral agent s)^ of becoming

righteous

Supplemental Dissertation. 309

RIGHTEOUS perfons j for it ought always to be
kept in mind, that righteousness is as truly a
moral good quality, as sin is a morally evil one:
they are both conneded with perfonal agency y and
abfolutely dependent on it. We can no more be
made perfonally righteous by the righteoufnefs
of another transferred to us, than we can be
made finners by the fin of another, transferred
in like manner : they are both moral impof-
fthilities, and equally fo. That parr, therefore, of
the advantage through Chrifl:, which confifts in
our being made righteous ^ and in, this wav quali-
fied, notfimply for life, but for an happy reign in
life after we are delivered from death, efTentially
fuppofes the ufe of means, and fuch too as are
proper to be ufed with moral agents^ in order to
their being formed, agreeably to their natures, in-
to RIGHTEOUS perfons i or, what means the fame
thing, a meetnefs for an eternal reign in happy
life : and this at once lets into the true reafon of
the eredion of the gofpel-kingdom, with all its
means, privileges, bleffings, and motives; which,
in any other view, would perhaps be quite unin-
telligible.

I may have been long and tedious in illuflrat-
ing the above fcripture-pafTages f but if it fhould
appear that they have been fet in a jufl and true
light, an eafy forgivenefs might reafonably be ex-
peaed ; efpecially as the fubjecl of them is in it-
fclf highly important, and there is no fuch thing
4 as

Qio Supplemental Dissertation*

as fully underftanding the apollle Paul in this, or
indeed in any of his epiftles, without knowing his
meaning with refpecl to our ft ate and circumftances
in confequence of the lapfe of our firft father
Adam I for the gofpel-falvation, as preached by
hin:ij is cflentially conneded herewith.

THE END.

"Jujl imported from Boston, New England^

and written by the Author of the foregoing
Dissertations;

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